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At last! The Chasm sure had us waiting for this one. It's been 5 long years since The Spell of Retribution, so this one got the red carpet treatment when I got it in the mail, though I'm afraid I won't be able to do it justice in words alone…

Farseeing the Paranormal Abysm is just over 62 minutes of intense, doomy, slow to mid-paced crushing Death Metal. Sounds like The Chasm? Well, yeah. ;) Though not the lengthiest album in their discography, Farseeing… flirts with "Epic Death Metal" with a group of pretty long songs – two of them exceeding 11 minutes. Length alone of course doesn't do it – but the epic feeling is present throughout. You just get lost into it all, feeling like a tiny dot in a dark, hellish place, just headbanging along even on the slower passages (plenty of those – The Chasm have never been as much about speed as they are about crushing your skull with pounding, heavy-as-fuck Death Metal) – the album feels a bit like a very long song, something that I would (almost) usually complain about but not here: It just works. The whole thing just flows along, uninterrupted, like a disturbingly soothing journey in a place of eternal despair – basically this feels a bit like a mindfuck; you can't listen to this and come out intact (and you'll be asking for more.)

Lots of instrumental parts here, be it entire songs or somewhat lengthy passages on the others. While I'm a long-time fan of Daniel's low, haunting and entrancing low growling vocals, being treated to a heavy dose of the band's brand of Death Metal – melodic (nooo, not Gothenburg-ish, you fools…), sorrowful, haunting, heavy as hell and at times just plain hypnotic is certainly nothing to sneeze at. Nothing too surprising here in terms of vocals and music – this is nearly 100% faithful to The Chasm's established style – a stable line-up doesn't hurt – without sounding like they're rehashing older material.

I could say this is one of the band's best, but since I like them all, that wouldn't mean much. ;) Farseeing the Paranormal Abysm is not an album to be taken lightly – it does take some time to sink in. I've had it for a few weeks and I'm still digesting it as I write these lines – and there's still more to chew on. Unless your definition is Death Metal is speed, speed, speed, then this is pretty much a mandatory release. Farseeing… is just one more proof that when it comes to this genre, The Chasm are in a league of their own. One of this year's best.