CORPSESSED Abysmal Thresholds CD

Another chapter in the recent wave of bands hailing from the diseased lineage of Incantation, Corpsessed’s “Abysmal Thresholds” proves that they are among the stronger acts in the wheelhouse, hacking aside the competition with a flurry of pulverizing and ruthless compositions. While it scores no points for being innovative, Corpsessed provide a crushing slab of ruthless black/death metal, spiced with some of the more incising riffs to come from this domain in recent years. “Abysmal Thresholds” is particularly well-served by its effort to include atmosphere and dynamics to balance what might otherwise prove to be a fairly monotonous venture into the gore-splattered darkness – and monotonous this album certainly is not. The album’s dimly-lit hell is suffused with an unyielding tension, a ravaging monster pounding forward relentlessly and propelled by its venomous guitar sound and deeply, growling vocals. The thundering drums do not simply rely on blast beats as many Incantation-acolytes tends to, and are varied enough that the percussion does a lot of the sonic heavy-lifting as well. But without doubt the guitar tone on “Abysmal Thresholds” is simply crushing, raking the listener over the proverbial coals for much of the runtime. The sparse bits of atmosphere thrown into this album are a welcome bit of reprieve before the return to its overall onslaught. A particular highlight on the album that showcases every realm Corpsessed is able to traverse would be “Ravening Tides,” a well-paced song whose eerie opening is suddenly pierced by an almost Entombed-esque slow riff that proceeds thereafter to heave the listener across a variety of torments – fast-paced blast beats, mosh-inducing thrashy sections, and death-doom atmospherics. But really, the album is an excellent foray into the black/death realm start-to-finish – “Sovereign’s” anxiety-inducing bridge, preceded by a fantastic use of layered vocals, is a particular highlight of the album – a furious building of tension that, rather than simply breaking, continues its steamrolling momentum. “Apotheosis” has as much of its stylistic lineage derived from Suffocation as it does from Disma, contrasting mid-paced blasting with frenetic start-stop slabs of head-banging madness, mixing pinch harmonics, double-bass propelled sections, and slow, dragging tremolo picking. “The Threshold,” while lyrically a fairly uninteresting venture into praise for the Lovecraftian deity Yog-Sothoth, is an absolutely massive closer, a final reminder of the crushing depths to which the listener has ended up by the album’s end. Overall, this is a strong debut and certainly a treat for those committed to seeking out the frenetic stirrings of the black/death renaissance occurring at present. Again, while this is by no means an innovative album, it is one of the more memorable contributions to the genre in recent years, and certainly nails Corpsessed’s twisted flag to the wall of bands to watch for as their development continues.