Colombia’s Blackened Death Metal outfit Cadaveric Messiah has now released their twenty-nine minute debut full length album. The band is now a quartet, after last year’s addition of bassist Mortum P and guitarist Crucifixor to the main lineup (both also playing in Barranquilla’s Funeral Vomit). Two years have elapsed since this group’s initial EP saw its release. Cadaveric Messiah are offering more demonic and unforgiving savagery akin to an act such as Teitanblood with a measure of War Metal fabric stitched into this wicked concoction.
The somewhat slowed and more deliberate pacing compared to some of the artists that Cadaveric Messiah seem to draw influence from (Archgoat, Blasphemy, Revenge) is centrefold to the general tempo of this album. From a vocal standpoint, things are particularly tasty; I love the insane demonic intensity of vocalist N. Pervertor’s barks on a track such as ‘Gha’agsheblah’. The band imbues the record with a considerable dosage of atmospherics; the numerous segue moments of anxiety-inducing ambience / movie quotes gives the experience a somewhat nightmarish aura. I feel that the atmosphere here is a real strength of the album, and is utilised to a near-perfect degree without becoming over indulgent or annoying.
The instrumentation on the record is generally quite massive, and the blunt and pummelling assault on ‘Al-Jihad fi sabil Shaitan’ is a moment of pure excitement. I love the monumental roar of the sustained guitars and the audibly-noticeable physical force of the percussion. Some of the segue moments towards the back end of the record indulge in some spooky keys that take the record in an interestingly strange direction.
Entombed in Yahannam is an abstract dive into quality Black/Death/War Metal and is one that will surely keep me curious to look out for the band’s future output. I love the warped and eccentric culmination of ideas that have been mashed together to form this record’s bulk, and the album taps into a creative strain of evil that could rival many of the groups that they clearly take inspiration from. Throughout its runtime the band frequently entertains a ritualistic savagery from an instrumental standpoint, and from an atmospheric one, they brilliantly drive a corroded bolt right into the foundations of hell itself.
