[Cover art by Fenomeno Design]
Did you know that Chile is pretty darn good at death metal? If not, you must be new around these parts, in which case, I say, welcome friend! We’re glad to have you here and so is South America because they have such sights to show you. You can certainly start with the lovely primer that Ryan put together a few years back, but searching “Chile” or “Chilean” on our little site here will surely bring you many more fantastic metal recommendations (outside of death metal as well).
Adversus Parousia‘s 40 minutes are chock full of marching riffs, trudging passages, clambering rhythms, chase-sequence giddy-up, Ip Man flurries of assault, molasses dripping collapses, and all the dynamic other dynamic parts you want in a modern take on moldy oldy death metal without any of the extra trappings like interludes or extra instruments being thrown in to try and generate atmosphere. Godless remains heavy and dark with no extra seasoning necessary.
The two songs that exemplify the album best are “Plaga Vobiscum (Et Cum Spiritu Tuo)” and “Ekstasis – Cosmogravis.” The former carries over an absolutely electrified passage from the song prior and hits in the taint with about 1,000 more volts for good measure. At the first moment when you think the relentless assault is going to break, it actually hits the listener with another army’s worth of electric volleys as if that army’s bows were armed with cattle prods rather than arrows. While the song does eventually shift up the pace, its heightened aggression for much of its runtime helps it stand out. On the opposite end of the spectrum, B-side opener “Ekstasis – Cosmogravis” sees Godless absolutely nail more dynamic pacing. It bleeds in with a slow-building pummel, coming across more like an album opener, which works on a record but is a little odd immediately following “Pneuma Khaos,” which starts in a similar doomy fashion. While the latter track switches up quickly and hits a bevy of different passages, the former lets the song simmer in its slowness and builds up much better toward an explosive release. The high-hat work early on gives the slow parts juice, the sheet-metal wobble of the bass anchors wily passages and the guitars balance crawls with brawls.
The comparison that kept coming to mind while spinning this record was Temple of Void’s early work, even more so when comparing the vocalists. There’s a simplicity involved with a focus on balancing pure death metal onslaught against doom-laden slowness with a focus on leveraging many styles and passages to get there. Where Godless falls a bit short is in using those tools to help each song stand out. Currently, each one may have its own arc, but the story beats are all very similar across every song, except for the two tracks discussed above. Six of eight tracks hit around five minutes or longer, which can make the album feel like it’s dragging a bit when parts between songs feel like they could often be interchangeable.
What’s put to tape here is overall very enjoyable, and Godless has absolutely gathered all the right ingredients; they just haven’t mastered enough recipes to make a full book yet. That said, if you’re looking to get whalloped over the skull with some well-produced, deathly goodness, you could do a lot worse than Adversus Parousia.
