Charnel Altar unveils us its first album.
Composed of DM (vocals/bass), DB (guitar) and VO (vocals/drums), the australian band releases a first demo in 2018, followed by a split with Carcinoid in 2020, and eventually Abatement of the Sun in 2021.
With their six tracks mastered by Daniel Lowndes (Absu, Cenotaph, Cerebral Rot, Corpsessed, Father Befouled, Pallbearer…), the band develops a melting of Black, Death and Doom Metal. Grave Totem, the first song, immediately crushes us with this thick, dissonant and impressive melting topped by cavernous howlings, which suddenly slows down before the blackness vortex gets open again with Vexation of Sorrow. Unhealthy harmonics spawn into this fog of sound, creating an ambient chaos that permanently surrounds us and which hardly gets appeased because of the high dissonance, then Slaughter lights the fire again. Blast reigns supreme under the mass of sound, then it is replaced by a steamroller of double kick that feeds the rhythmic, until it slows down to become as airy as weighing. The sound bursts into fire again, then it leaves for Wormworld, a hooking and haunting composition, which also lets howlings and some blast parts strike us. The song will eventually slow down, while allowing worrying harmonics to grow, then Malefic Blessings continues into this weighing and mystical ambience, letting the track to suddenly accelerate to drown us into a flood of unholy strength. Ghostly howlings join this crushing and heady rage, then Metempsychosis comes next with a nex fix of this weighing and unhealthy blackness. Howlings walk with us when the rhythm part slows down, then it slowly fades away to let place to silence.
Charnel Altar created an apocalyptic universe by melting several dark styles. On Abatement of the Sun, the band unveils us a thick, dissonant and crushing fog of sound, which surrounds us on the whole album, and which will make an impression.
85/100