There are albums that try to sound old. And then there are others that feel as if they had remained buried for decades, simply waiting for the right moment to emerge. ‘Realms of Sin’ clearly belongs to the second group.
Deathwards’ debut has a very strong connection with that late-’80s period when Thrash, Speed Metal, and the earliest forms of death metal were still colliding in a chaotic, dangerous, and undefined way. The band works precisely from that root: primitive Death Metal with its Thrash foundations fully intact, sharp riffs, wild solos, and an atmosphere that points directly back to that era.
What makes ‘Realms of Sin’ interesting, however, is that it never feels like a simple exercise in nostalgia. The album has a life of its own. Each song seems naturally connected to the overall concept. The music is chaotic, twisted, and at times almost bizarre, but it never loses direction. All that disorder seems to serve one clear purpose: to create a sense of descent. A descent into sin. Into damnation. Into punishment.
The lyrical concept revolves around guilt, lust, gluttony, greed, wrath, heresy, violence, fraud, treachery, and eternal punishment, with clear inspiration from Dante’s ‘Inferno’, biblical imagery, and medieval visions of suffering. And the most interesting thing is that this idea does not remain only in the titles or lyrics. You can hear it. Each track seems to open another door within that descent. Each song carries its own form of punishment. That gives the album a remarkable sense of cohesion.
The production also plays an important role. It is clear and powerful, but it does not destroy the band’s organic character. There is no feeling of digital perfection. No sterility. There is friction. There is dirt. There is tension. And that is exactly what this kind of music needs.
It is also refreshing that the influences do not seem to come only from the most obvious names. There is clearly a deep-rooted connection with late-’80s Extreme Metal, but Deathwards manages to move within that language with a strong sense of personality. They do not sound like a band trying to copy a historical formula. They sound like a band that understands that period deeply and uses it as a starting point.
The energy of the album is another striking element. I have not yet had the opportunity to see Deathwards live, and that remains unfinished business, but listening to ‘Realms of Sin’, it is difficult not to imagine how much this violence must expand on stage. There are riffs, tempo changes, and a constant sense of tension that seem built for a far more physical impact in a live setting.
And then there is the cover. The artwork by Jorge Olavarria deserves special mention. It is extraordinary. Chaotic. Sick. Filled with bodies, creatures, deformed animals, arrows, mutations, torture, and damnation. It is one of those covers you can stare at for a long time and still keep discovering new details. More importantly, it connects perfectly with the album’s overall concept, turning the visual side into another layer of the same infernal world.
That is what makes ‘Realms of Sin’ feel like a much more complete work. Music. Concept. Artwork. Atmosphere. Everything seems to move in the same direction. Downward. Toward the abyss. Toward a place where redemption no longer exists.
Every song has something of its own. Each one adds a different texture to this mixture of chaos, hell, sin, and primitive Death/Thrash. And that is probably the album’s greatest strength: Deathwards manages to give all that violence a real identity.
‘Realms of Sin’ is highly recommended for anyone who enjoys primitive, dark Death/Thrash deeply connected to the old school of the late ’80s. It is one of those records where music, concept, atmosphere, and visual art all work in the same direction.
Deathwards does not seem interested in remembering the past as a relic. They use it as living matter. And ‘Realms of Sin’ proves that the past can still bleed.
