Review by Sandre the Giant
Greek death metallers Abyssus are a band I have followed since their 2015 full length debut ‘Into the Abyss’, and I’ve found their music to be almost like comfort food in execution and style. It is pure death metal, plain and simple. Their latest effort, ‘Death Revival’ comes almost seven years later, and will be released in January through Transcending Obscurity, whose credentials as the most consistent metal label in the world are currently unbeatable.
Opener ‘Metal of Death’ is a perfect example of what Abyssus do and do as good as anyone else; straight forward bulldozing death metal rampaging through all the requisite Obituary influences into an instant classic. The unstoppable ‘Ten Commandments’ is relentless in its pursuit of the form, the look, the feel of an old school death metal record. Every track is hell bent on forging an authentic experience, but it is so natural, so unconscious that you’d be forgiven for thinking tracks like ‘The Beast Within’ or the snappy ‘The Witch’ hadn’t just been written in 1991. You even get those little keyboard background flourishes every so often that bands have totally left behind as a device for creating atmosphere. The Obituary influence is overpowering, but you get a little Malevolent Creation and even some Atheist in the serpentine ‘Genocide’.
A ‘Death Revival’ this truly is, as Abyssus are as close to what an old school death metal record should sound like, not just what the perception is. There’s a little guitar heroing in there, a little bit of thrash too, but this is weapons grade purity when it comes to death metal. It is impossible to listen to without a smile on your face and pain in your headbanging muscles. Excellent.
https://www.facebook.com/Abyssus666/
https://abyssus666.bandcamp.com/
https://abyssusgreece.bandcamp.com/
https://transcendingobscurity.bandcamp.com/
The Killchain 