Appearing as a merciless mystery cult in ode to unspoken shadow-formed horrors, the doomed and deranged nox curling from the skull mouths of Mexico City, Mexico-based death metal quartet Reverence to Paroxysm quickly prove themselves worthy by new ghastly doctrine of rotten and horrified death-worshipping mass on this their debut full-length album. Hanging as a dimmed graven light over the reeking steam of a freshly cracked-open coffin, the ancient spiritus and sinister atmospheric dread lording over every second of ‘Lux Morte‘ drains away the fight in the eyes minute by minute, no enlightenment will come beyond death. Evolved in place and sapping the will toward acceptance of mortality this diabolic wound arrives in the best tradition of truly morbid and atmospheric death metal.

Reverence to Paroxysm formed circa 2020 as a font of darkest eldritch death metal from the hands of folks best known for their involvement in elite underground groups from their area old and new, initially featuring Cenotaph drummer Óscar Clorio among their ranks. Of course vocalist/guitarist Antimo Buonnano (Vomit Records, Profanator, et al.) should be recognizable here up front if you’d followed the first three Disgorge (Mex) releases back in the day or in my case if you’ve long been a fan of his band Hacavitz and other work alongside compatriot and drummer Led Sánchez, who provides the second guitar slot in this band. Pulling in folks from lesser known stoner, doom and black metal groups seems to have helped curate a different sort of gnarled beast, still inherently traditional but differently imposing than one’d imagine based on the gaping atmospheric reach on their first release, a split CD (‘Convergence of the Ends‘, 2021) featuring equally gnarled and gloom-ridden Spanish group Pestilength wherein the band presented a 10+ minute opus, an imposing first statement that’d hit like an early-to-mid 90’s death/doom bulldozer. Primarily focused on a grotesque, over the top vision of ‘old school’ death metal at its most rotten underground point of gestation, the style of the band hadn’t indicated a specific “retro” feeling and instead draped their work in thick morbid atmosphere, what I’d consider atmospheric death metal or simply death/doom metal in a less literal sense and those expectations match up well enough with the style found on ‘Lux Morte‘, doomed but not entirely.

Machines whirr alive, voices hum over the loudspeaker above. — Just a few years later we find Reverence to Paroxysm sporting an uglier, darker sound which first and foremost presents a heinous and nauseating guitar tone, a sound which recalls the sickening bludgeon of ancient underground groups like Rippikoulu and Eternal Darkness where death/doom metal met in natural flow with bursts of wrathful pure death metal sluices. The whole of the atmosphere generated here isn’t necessarily as spacious as ‘From the Shadows‘ and instead warms up to the level of a Krypts level of burn but features an obfuscated, darker sound which is given some propulsion by way of a heavily distorted bass guitar tone; If you’re already keen to the rotten bone-snapping side of earlier Slugathor with that heavy handed Bolt Thrower-esque rhythmic churn applied (see: “AD Putrefactio”) the surprise here on my part comes with Buonnano‘s occasional use of guttural vocals and arrangements which speak to the post-‘Reek of Putrefaction‘ level dankness one would find in earlier Finnish death metal or even the first Cenotaph record where a certain level of grittiest brutality meets with dreaming death. Ancient precedence only gives us a general shape but you’ve gotten the idea, they’ve blacked out the windows in their moldering house and managed a crushing, impenetrable wall of death built on this recording.

Opener “Astray Descent” is a trip in its own right, trudging through the colosseum of possibilities be they mid-paced jogging death metal of the nowadays variety ’til they begin to slowly shift gears between guttural brutality, slower grooves and the ten ton resonance of the final few minutes of the song. This isn’t he full signature of the band divulged within the first ~eight or so minutes but it comes close as we whip into the more kinetic ‘…For Victory‘ slide of aforementioned “Ad Putrefaction” and begin to see the style of this album begin to shape its movements with some underlying melodic in mind. When I say melodic I don’t necessarily mean in the romanticist death/doom sensibility but with their own exaggerated touch upon the wandering second guitar leads and drowned tones of elder Scandinavian/British death metal; This all lands beyond the obvious destination, eventually hitting upon some of the deeper shades of earlier Disma due to an earth-quaking guitar tone that’d just as well recall the exaggerative motions of an album like ‘Unending Degradation‘ although what Reverence to Paroxysm do with their sound is vastly different in most cases (“Burial Absolute”) where the monstrous groove they’re chucking into the abysm may still remember to find a tuneful or memorable point within each song.

The eerie release of the mid-halfway point of “Necropacity” is probably where I’d begin to recognize the melodic guitar work faceted in the chest of ‘Lux Morte‘ as it becomes more pronounced on the back half of the album as each piece begins to differentiate into six fair sized blocks. For my own taste the peak of this thought is of course “Portals to Dark Misery”, a quick standout in what I’d considered a Finnish death metal style piece, a gloomiest yet most lucid point on the album which nearly betrays the hideous shake of the full listen before it adds a sophistication to the whole deal. Call it deep cut or simply a more coherently melodic piece but I’d found the album ramped up to that song as soon as it’d faced the nine+ minute finale (“Care Data Vermibus”) as a brutal door shut upon the full listen, not their deepest drill into the brain but a fittingly dramatic closer to signal the path beyond.

Twisted, “off”, deranged and horrified through its greater ride what ‘Lux Morte‘ offers is surprisingly not all that taxing for a riff dense and doomed death metal full-length and likely because they’ve cut down to their best moments and stuck to a perfectly set ~45 minute run which showcases every facet of their heavily atmospheric sound. Breaking off a notable debut LP in an effortless yet wall-to-wall intense display Reverence to Paroxysm thus far manifest as the sort of band folks dig round the edges of the usual suspects to find, a darker-than-thou and heaving death metal abysm which has all manner of depth and dungeon-built sound available for those seeking a less pristine and the deeper stylized edge on morbid death. Though I found the aesthetics of the layout just above par, and I’ve only a half way a decent idea of the lyrics thus far, this record lined up well with my own taste in doom-tinged death metal and the heightened immersive qualities generated within many, many repeated listens lead to a lasting impression throughout the month. A high recommendation.

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