Few bands deserve as much cult status as The Chasm. The band began as a new project from Daniel Corchado, who had decided to depart from Cenotaph to follow his own musical path. The initial results were quite humble, with two fairly competent albums. However, little would Daniel know that his following record would be the one to genuinely propel the band to new heights and set them as one of the most promising forces in Death Metal as the new millennium approached.
If there’s an album that defines what The Chasm is capable of, it is ‘Deathcult’. Up until now, The Chasm had solidified themselves mostly as a Doomy Death band with their first two efforts. By listening to the first notes off ‘Revenge Rises/Drowned in the Mournful Blood’, you would think the path would continue. But as you’ll see throughout the course of The Chasm’s discography, Corchado is not a man that follows an easily discernable path with his music. That’s because as soon as the intro is done with, you are bombarded with a barrage of riffs lifted straight from the pits of 80s Thrash Metal and even some new vocal stylings from Corchado which can be best described as either an Araya or Schmier scream.
While this may seem novel, the inclusion of these influences are the final piece of what was needed for The Chasm to truly cement themselves as one of the most innovative bands in Death Metal history. Yes, this record is technically Death Metal, but it is so much more than that. Thrash, Black, Doom all come into play at different parts of the album to provide a release that transcends conventional genre boundaries and does whatever it wants, but without losing that cosmic and otherworldly feel that characterizes The Chasm’s sound. The aforementioned opener is a great example of this, perfectly balancing out a newfound aggression and faster tempos with slower, more moody melodic passages that highlight the versality and multi-pronged approach this album takes.
This ability to seamlessly transition between these passages is what allows the album to escape some of the critiques you could place upon Chasm’s earlier work, especially ‘From the Lost Years’. Look at a track like ‘I’m a Hateful Raven’ in the way it can effortlessly integrate acoustic passages into a song that would otherwise be a ripping Death/Thrash affair. These passages are also an integral part of the doomier tracks here like ‘A Portal to Nowhere’ and ‘Apocalypse’, which harken back to the first 2 records and deliver a morose and effusive feeling. My personal favourite track here is ‘In Superion Torment’, which brings all of these points together and brims with potent energy and some of the most impactful guitar leads on the record.
‘Deathcult for Eternity’ is an album that needs to be experienced by those who want something completely different from their Death Metal. While not a concept album, the way the songs have such an unorthodox pattern and deviate from standard norms make it feel like a story is being narrated before us. As the final galloping melodic riffs ‘The Triumph…(of my Loss)’ play, you can’t help but feel you’ve finished a journey through an outer world, perhaps passing through the portal that appears in the cover. This is a cult classic for a reason and one of the best works in both Death Metal and Extreme Metal history.
