The Chasm

Apparition – Disgraced Emanations from a Tranquil State Review

By Steel Druhm on March 21, 2024 in Reviews, Death Metal, 35 comments

“As I get older and hopefully wiser, I find myself wanting life to become simpler and less cluttered. When it comes to my death metal, I want more caveman idiocy with a greater emphasis on scuzz, murk, and swamp. Based on these sage guiding principles, Apparition’s sophomore opus Disgraced Emanations from a Tranquil State seemed a safe flyer for me to grab out of the promo sewer. Hailing from the City of Angels, their sound is anything but heavenly, ripe as it is with the ghastly cavern creeping of Incantation and early Tomb Mold.” Swamp n’ pomp.

Acerus – The Caliginous Serenade Review

By Steel Druhm on February 2, 2024 in Reviews, Heavy Metal, 31 comments

“The Chasm have been cracking skulls since 1994 with their riff-intensive, wildly creative death metal. Over the years they evolved from ass-scratching caveman death to technical insanity engineers, but skulls were always smashed just the same. Though I’ve been a fan forever, somehow I missed that The Chasm’s bassist/guitarist/vocalist Daniel Corchado had an epic/trve metal side project called Acerus and had been releasing albums since 2014. For this, I feel great shame and now I must make amends. The Caliginous Serenade is their fourth release and this one will be properly exposed to the AMG masses!” Ride of the Gorge Warriors.

Begravement – Horrific Illusions Beckon [Things You Might Have Missed 2023]

By Saunders on January 11, 2024 in Things You Might Have Missed 2023, Death Metal, Progressive Death, 24 comments

“Amidst the slew of mighty fine death metal releases in 2023, there were some killer debuts and plenty of albums well worth your attention, even if they didn’t feature heavily, or at all, during another epic Listurnalia campaign. One such album was the debut LP from up-and-coming Minnesota death dealers Begravement and their potential packed Horrific Illusions Beckon album.” Grave developments.

Blood Oath – Lost in an Eternal Silence Review

By Steel Druhm on September 29, 2023 in Reviews, Death Metal, 52 comments

“There was a dark time in the 80 when death metal was unknown to the masses, a mere potentiality. The early output from Possessed and Hellhammer/Celtic Frost helped define its borders, and the ripping intensity of Dark Angel and Slayer filled them with anger and aggression. All these disparate elements pissing in the same ghatly gene pool would eventually birth the abomination we all know and love, which would be spearheaded by Death and pushed outward into progressive vistas. That strange journey from tortured birth to shambling early adulthood is captured quite quaintly on the debut full-length Lost in an Eternal Silence by Chile’s Blood Oath.” Old blood, new death.

Ascended Dead – Evenfall of the Apocalypse Review

By Steel Druhm on May 12, 2023 in Reviews, Death Metal, 39 comments

“Ascended Dead hail from the San Diego area and despite the region’s nearly perfect climate with endless sunny days, they’re fucking furious and verging on a total nervous breakdown. This results in some of the most over-the-top and feral death metal I’ve heard in a while, and their sophomore outing Evenfall of the Apocalypse is a proper soundtrack for even the most hellish of end times. With Jon Reider and C. Koryn, both formerly of VoidCeremony leading the charge, Ascended Dead take a sturdy OSDM foundation and slather it with dangerously twisted and jagged progressive ideas.” Brace for body trauma.

Steel Druhm’s Top Ten(ish) of 2022

By Steel Druhm on January 3, 2023 in Blog Posts, Lists, 201 comments

Steel Druhm put sweat equity into his Top Ten(ish) of 2022 and you will repay him with readership and blind acceptance.

Saunders’ and Felagund’s Top Ten(ish) of 2022

By Angry Metal Guy on December 29, 2022 in Blog Posts, Lists, 65 comments

Saunders and Felagund demand to have their Top Ten(ish) lists heard across the land. We obliged.

The Chasm – The Scars of a Lost Reflective Shadow [Things You Might Have Missed 2022]

By Steel Druhm on December 20, 2022 in Things You Might Have Missed 2022, Death Metal, 27 comments

“The Chasm have achieved legendary cult status in the death metal universe. Bursting on the scene way back in 1992, this Mexican act essentially took the blueprint from Possessed’s Seven Churches, slapped some early Mayhem insanity on top, and off they went into the swirling madness. An album from The Chasm is guaranteed to throw more wild riffs at you than a sane mind can process and you will be battered and bewildered by the twists and turns their trademark style takes.” Where the wild riffs grow.

Sacrilegion – From Which Nightmares Crawl Review

By Steel Druhm on December 7, 2022 in Reviews, Death Metal, 58 comments

“As November slips into Mariah Carey’s proprietary month of December, the overall quality of the promos oozing into the AMG storage sump drops precipitously. Only the desperate or foolhardy aim to drop albums in December and much of what is released should never have seen the light of day. That makes any sort of seasonal gambling with unknown acts especially treacherous. Because I’m an ape who likes to live dangerously, I took a high-risk flyer and grabbed the debut album by Salt Lake City’s Sacrilegion.” Sacrilicious.

Draconis – Anthems for an Eternal Battle Review

By Mark Z. on July 28, 2020 in Reviews, Death Metal, Melodic Death Metal, 34 comments

“There’s something special about South American death metal. I don’t know what it is, but the continent seems to have no shortage of bands that pair a raw, uncompromising, and wholly sincere approach with a strange and otherworldly mystique. Peru’s Mortem and Chile’s Atomic Aggressor, for instance, both excel at infusing the sound of old Morbid Angel with a sense of ancient and mysterious horror, while Chile’s Death Yell use less discernible influences to craft equally dark and aggressive material. Thus, I was quite excited when AMG Himself recommended I cover Draconis, an Argentinian death metal band who I’ve never heard of before.” Eternal muddle.