Without any further distraction, delay, acts of god and other feeble excuses, here it is: the 2023 debut from Thanatomass, entitled ‘Hades’.
Emerging from the Russian underground like a sulphuric exhalation, Thanatomass’s ‘Hades’ is more of a tribal descent; it is an infernal katabasis into the churning abyss of Black/Death Metal’s most feral traditions.
Though labeled a debut, ‘Hades’ follows two substantial EPs (‘Darkest Conjurations’ and ‘Black Vitriol & Iron Fire’), and in many ways feels like the culmination of a sonic craftsmanship already well-honed: a commitment to chaos that is paradoxically precise.
The album vigorously opens with ‘Katabasis (Intromass)’, a brooding invocation that sets the tone with spectral (ghostlike) atmospherics before plunging headlong into ‘Templvm Carnalis / Vomit Ceremony’. Here, the band’s signature style is immediately apparent: a relentless barrage of serrated riffs, stop-start rhythmic convulsions, and vocals that oscillate between cavernous roars and phlegmatic snarls.
The production is deliberately raw, filthy, even, but never obscures the intricacy of the compositions. There’s a calculated madness at play, where abrupt transitions and disjointed structures feel less like accidents and more like incantations. In all, the band does display much more clarity and feral voracity on this full-length than on the previous releases.
Tracks like ‘Gravedance Sabbath’ and ‘Living Tombs Of Tartaros’ showcase Thanatomass’s ability to shift gears without losing momentum. The former is a short, violent burst of blackened Thrash Metal, while the latter slows to a menacing crawl, evoking the oppressive weight of Doom Metal without abandoning the band’s core savagery. Guitar leads screech and spiral like demonic invocations, often veering into the realm of the unhinged: solos that sound less like musical statements and more like psychic ruptures.
What sets ‘Hades’ apart is not novelty but rather ‘synthesis’. The band draws deeply from the well of early Brazilian satanic Black/Thrash Metal (Sarcófago, early Sepultura), the ritualistic filth of Archgoat, Pseudogod and Teitanblood, and the chaotic precision of modern Death/Black Metal hybrids. Yet, rather than mimic, Thanatomass reconfigures these elements into a sound that feels both reverent and volatile. There’s no reliance on repetition; riffs mutate and dissolve, structures collapse and reform, and the listener is left disoriented but exhilarated.
The closing track, ‘Retromass (Morbid Ordinance Of Doom)’, is a fitting terminus: a sprawling, doom-laced exhalation that drags the listener back through the underworld’s mire. It’s not a resolution, but a final curse: an echo of the album’s central ethos: that extremity, when wielded with intent, becomes a form of sorcery.
In Chaos, which spawned the first gods out of nothingness, and ruled by Hades who also dominates the worst part, called Tartaros, Thanatomass feel at home, protected by sheer horror and the Eumenides (do your own research kiddies).
This is a record for those who crave the untamed, the bestialized, and the ruinous. ‘Hades’ is a maelstrom of Blackened Death/Thrash Metal that channels old-school extremity through a modern, chaotic lens.
