Ελληνικά
Last Updated on 07:53 PM by Giorgos Tsekas
Genre: Death Metal
Country: Greece
Label: Memento Mori
Year: 2015
Abyssus is an old school death metal band from Athens. It was formed in 2011 by Kostas Analytis and it has released the Ep “Monarch to The Kingdom of The Dead” in 2012 and three splits, “No Life In The Coffin” with Nocturnal Vomit in 2013, “From The Abyss Raised The Morbid” with Morbider in 2014 and “Obcure” with Slaktgrv in 2014, with the second one also being released as an Ep tape by the title “Summon the Dead”. With a yet steady line up, which consists of Kostas (vocals), Panos Gkourmpaliotis (guitars) and Kostas Ragiadakos (bass) they are releasing their first full-length.
The album is utterly old-school, both on aspects of sound and songwriting. Had I heard this without any hints, I would have guessed this was an early nineties release. The vocals is a “lighter” version of John Tardy, they have this unique tone that will make the band easily distinguishable. Obituary, anyways, seems to be Abyssus’ biggest influence, though the band intentionally avoids the characteristic slow-groove riffs by Allen West and sticks to the edgy, pure death metal riffs. The pace goes from medium to fast. True to the old-school nature, the band denies blast-beats, but delivers a number of crossover/hardcore influenced parts. In the first half of “Enthrone the Insane” we witness a small Celtic Frost worship. Overall, the display of doom hints is to the band’s liking. The songs are simple, easy to digest and straight to the point. They will set the foundations for some intense live shows… that I surely take for granted.
Highlights… the awesome ending of “Echoes of Desolation”, “Intent to Kill” with the intense drumming, “Those of the Unholy”, of course, with all its rhythm swifts and my personal favorite “Visions of Eternal Pain”.
Abyssus, with “Into the Abyss” are here to fill the gap in one of death metal’s subgenres in Greece, the old school death metal one. (That’s life lads… what used to be death metal, is now a branch of death metal…). As the genre itself suggests, there is no demand for originality here. I believe that every death metal fan will have fun with this record, as it is drenched into that “entertaining violence” feel that comes from a past but not forgotten era. We demand live shows asap!
