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ABYSMAL LORD
Storms Of Unholy Black Mass EP

Hells Headbangers (2014)
Rating: 8/10

Adorned in bullet-belts, chains, studded wristbands and shades in their press photo, Abysmal Lord look like an unruly bunch who has stepped out of the 80s European thrash scene. However, before you start dismissing this iron gang from Louisiana as just another bunch of Sodom, Destruction et al rip-offs, think again.

Storms Of Unholy Black Mass is a foetid pit of black smoke that is just as much embedded into the caverns of filthy grindcore as it is blackened death metal.

Even so, this is still one hell of an ungodly racket for a debut EP, and one that spans across five wretched tracks. This begins with the billowing fury of ‘Terrorist Dawn (Introwehrmacht)’, which sort of exists as a torturous descent into blackest hell. Okay, so while we’re very much finding ourselves traipsing through the extreme metal underground with this one, there’s still room for manoeuvre amidst the hellish vocal bursts of M.C., who has the subtlety of a strangled goat as his rotten pipes deliver an indecipherable medley of charcoal, silt and flame. As introductory tracks go it’s one of the most evil things I’ve heard this year, made all the more blasphemous by that haunting guitar sound.

This theme of sickness and overwhelming plague continues into the suffocating fire that is ‘Gnashing Of Teeth’. Nothing beats an unhealthy concoction of rampant, uncontrollable guitars coupled with rusty, belching drums and a vocal cough that simply spews out enough devilish pests to prompt a phone call to the local fumigation company.

Abysmal Lord has attempted to create hell on record, which isn’t an easy feat with so many competitors, but boy have these lunatics constructed something akin to a smoking kiln that spits out bones, bolts and black smoke. The unholy ‘Gnashing Of Teeth’ just about sums up their state of sound and mind in that when it’s slow it’s just a vile, awkward mess of parasite-ridden bludgeoning, and then when the tempo is raised the noise just rattles and clanks like a neglected generator responsible for polluting the corridors of Hades.

By the time you’ve reached the fifth and final track, ‘Revelation’, I’m sure you’ll be coughing your guts up and brushing yourself down from the dangerous levels of toxic waste that has coated your flesh. Mind you, I’d be surprised if you even made it this far because for sickening, demented metal, there is no darker place at the moment than this truly hideous EP. The fumes will last for days.

Neil Arnold

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