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This is where they got good. The Chasm are one of the best Death Metal bands the world has ever seen, combining an exquisite ear for melody with a sonic assault like none you've ever seen. Procession to the Infraworld was their breakthrough album, where they threw away the piddling and meandering Doom influence they had been slowly shedding with their past releases and decided that the best course of action was to start writing albums that simply fucking demolished everything in their path like a giant wrecking ball.

And the strangest thing is - this is not in any way just brutality and speed. The Chasm display a maturity in their songwriting that many other Death Metal bands at the time could not even dream of. People will say this is a step down from Deathcult in terms of songwriting, but really all The Chasm did was strip the music of the unnecessary components like the strange acoustic guitars. All of the strange, occult atmosphere is still intact here, just delivered in a more subtle and restrained manner, as to make way for a more guitar-centric style of music. The riffs here are seriously awesome; twisted and demented pieces of molten Metal that wrap themselves like thorny wreaths around the dark, moody melodies to create a vital, powerful sound that will never get old. The songs are fluid, changing tempos often, yet never sounding contrived or disconnected like they did on the last album.

Everything on Procession is calculated meticulously, and yet it still retains the gritty, brutal Death Metal aesthetic that the genre was founded upon. The opening riff of "Spectral Sons of the Mictlan" will captivate immediately and have you headbanging, and the rest of the album does not disappoint. The band sounds infused with a new energy and power, and they exercise it well with a chunky, metallic guitar tone and bushels of heavy, galloping riffs. "The Scars of My Journey," the doomy, erudite "At the Edge of the Nebula Mortis," the sprawling, melodic "Cosmic Landscapes of Sorrow," "Architects of Melancholic Apocalypse," with its fast, trilling melodies and bombastic nature, and of course the epic closer "Storm of Revelations"...all killer tracks, and even the ones I didn't name are still fantastic.

This is The Chasm's most accessible and shortest album, so if you need a place to jump right into the interminable void of their spectacular discography, this is probably the best place to start, although The Spell of Retribution might be a good choice too. Procession to the Infraworld is just a classic Death Metal album with no frills or gimmicks, using strong songwriting and great musicianship to hit you harder than a bag of fucking bricks. Get this one if you have any taste at all.

Additional Information

Limited Editon on vinyl by Sempiternal Productions