AN NCS PREMIERE: ABYSSAL ASCENDANT — “WOMBS OF TORMENT”

 

Almost exactly one month ago we had the ghoulish pleasure of premiering a track from the forthcoming second album by the French death metal band Abyssal Ascendant. Entitled Chronicles of the Doomed Worlds – Part. II : Deacons of Abhorrence, it will be released by Dolorem Records on October 9th, accompanied by the striking artistic handiwork of Daniele Lupidi.

As on their debut album, Abyssal Ascendant have again drawn their inspirations from the Lovecraftian mythos of The Ancient Ones and the ’90s death metal of such greats as Morbid Angel, Cannibal Corpse, Immolation, and Obituary. Appropriate to their subject matter, the band demonstrate a sure-handed talent for creating sensations of supernatural horror, mindless fear, and slaughtering savagery. And as further proof of that, today we’re following our first premiere with a second one — this one named “Wombs of Torment“.

 

 

Right away, ominous ritual drumbeats and choral voices create a feeling of fright and dread, and then the song flares into a crazed and sinister storm of thunderous double-kicks, squirming and darting riffage, and gruesome, cavernous growls (which themselves flare into ghastly, strangled screams). The groaning and mercurial dissonance of the music and the gargoyle horror of the vocals create a chilling and unsettling mood (a queasiness in the guts, if you will), and the reappearance of the fervent choral voices actually increases the song’s fear factor.

But the song also packs a visceral, pile-driving punch too, as well as delivering bursts of maniacal frenzy. Feverish fretwork and machine-gun drumming channel berserker viciousness, and wild, spiraling solos send the song to heights of glorious madness.

The song makes a fitting follow-on to that previously premiered track, “Martyrs of Mordiggian“. There, the snare chops at your neck like a blood-stained ax; the kick drum and the bass rumble like an earthquake; the riffing boils like a mass of giant hornets in a killing swarm; the vocalist bellows his guttural growls with monstrous ferocity. And having set the stage in such malignant and marauding fashion, the band proceed to continually switch things up in an electrifying firestorm of sound.

Kicking the speed into high gear, the drums gallop and clobber with a battering abandon, the deranged riffing darts, jabs, and swirls. Briefly, the pace slows and the music becomes a manifestation of gruesome misery, and the soloing wails like tortured spirits in a fever. And if that weren’t enough to give your adrenaline a big kick, the band segment the onslaught with spine-smashing grooves.

 

Chronicles of the Doomed Worlds – Part. II was recorded and mixed by Steph Tanker at Disvlar Studio (Blockheads), and it was mastered by Mobo at Conkrete Studio (Mercyless, Gorod, Ad Patres). As mentioned, the artwork was again made by the Italian artist Daniele Lupidi.

Dolorem Records will release the record on CD with a 12-page booklet that includes all the lyrics. And if you missed our previous premiere of “Martyrs of Mordiggian“, please give that one a listen too — we’ve made it easy for you.

PRE-ORDER:
CD: https://bit.ly/2PfyPkG
LP (Colored version limited edition): https://bit.ly/2ELqIe1
Pack (CD + LP): https://bit.ly/3hYvkLT
Bandcamp: https://doloremrecords.bandcamp.com/album/chronicles-of-the-doomed-worlds-part-ii-deacons-of-abhorrence-album

ABYSSAL ASCENDANT:
https://www.facebook.com/abyssal.ascendant.band