At the inner-cut vertex of a chasm, with our backs against a storm-carved wall so reveals the long awaited return of the old death’s ancestral pillar with a paen to the very currents of death and dissolve as England, Scotland and United States-based death metal quartet Cruciamentum return for a much anticipated sophomore full-length album well worthy of all patiently held high expectations. Crafted with impeccable taste and years-honed sound design, which is once again beyond world class in render, ‘Obsidian Refractions‘ cannot represent a mere follow-up so much as it serves to rebirth the entity, still bearing key traits of its core embodiment yet served well past the notion of plain iteration. Happily drinking from this newly burst arterial fountain of the old gods, splattered with the vein-ripping horror of ancient death metal pathos and diabolism, I’d witness this uncommonly refined example of classicist death metal taken to an extreme which’d only been possible in well-considered hindsight. Built from timeless threads yet only just possible here and now this champion of atmospheric death metal mutation now appears with fire in every available hand, blurring the road with its sinkhole and lava-strewn vision. Easily one of the best death metal records released this year.

Formed circa 2007 by way of Dan Lowndes, who’d chipped away at a few brutal death bands in the early 2000’s before doing his own thing, Cruciamentum were extremely well-received back in 2009 when their first mass produced demo (eventually EP) ‘Convocation of Crawling Chaos‘ not only as an entrant into the path beyond the ‘old school’ revivalism of the late 2000’s/early 2010’s but also as a potential contemporary for ascendant groups such as Grave Miasma and Dead Congregation. Raw, venomous and richly atmospheric movement held together by a grotesque Incantation/Immolation-esque dynamic would find their debut EP (‘Engulfed in Desolation‘, 2011) just as well received as the demo prior, eventually leading to the signing to Profound Lore before a four year gap produced their incredible debut LP (‘Charnel Passages‘, 2015). This is the most key point of provenance to keep in mind in terms of contextualizing the high expectations for ‘Obsidian Refractions‘ as that debut had been a serious, full-bodied leap into a new skin which’d not only escaped the dwindling interest in “caverncore” at the time but found its own atmospheric reach, from the haunting keys on the opener to the wailing divebombed leads in the middle portion there was both a new fire behind the eyes set for ‘old school’ minded death metal and a new high standard set for a said realm. For some it’d been too drastic a shift, but taking into account the years between it was an impressive and fittingly grand entrance and a lot of potential realized right off the bat.

DEEPER LISTENING [x]

VACIVIUS: One of many projects which also features guitarist Dan Rochester, death metal fans should check out ‘Annihilism‘ from 2019.

IMINDAIN: A bleak extreme doom metal group prone to fits of death/doom, funeral doom and such. Features lead guitars, keyboards and vocals from Lowndes.

EXAUGERATE: An impressive death metal band from members of Ectovoid and Ritual Decay, features vocalist Chris Eakes.

OATH OF CRUELTY: An incredible death/thrash metal band which features drummer Matt Hefner, who also features in Imprecation these days.

Other bands to check out and contrast with this record’s style: Corpsessed (esp. ‘Succumb to Rot‘) and Gorephilia.

Eight years later the line-up of the band has shifted considerably with only Lowndes (whose name you’ll recognize per his prolific mix, mastering, and remastering work in Resonance Sound Studio) returning from ‘Charnel Passages‘ and their bassist for the ‘Paradise Envenomed‘ (2017) seven inch, Dan Rochester, returns acting as second guitarist on this new record. Otherwise they’ve reached across the pond in wrangling in vocalist Chris Eakes (Exaugurate) and drummer Matt Heffner (Oath of Cruelty, ex-Blaspherian) as two very well chosen folks to make up the other half of the crew. Though they’ve make well and sure that ‘Obsidian Refractions‘ sounds like the next Cruciamentum album that shouldn’t suggest that this record ends up dirging out variations on their prior LP and instead we get an album which leans into heavier extreme doom metal inspired riffcraft as well as some harder swings at what I’d consider early peak-era United States death metal inspired rhythms which aim for the sinister and surreal punishment of the classics.

Sound design herein sets the guitar at a chest-level drill with a minimum four armed riff machine with subtle differences set between the major left and right groups, leads first create a sense of ultimate distance as they strike upward and tend to pan in one direction or another. Bass tones are clean, impossibly low in their thunder and the drums are tuned with some additional distance to not flatten the columnar pulse of all things in motion, though they do roil and sprawl in a tempestuous way as the slower portions of pieces like “Scorn Manifestation” double-barrel their kicks through and spasm up toward more ruthlessly blasting movements. Vocals are often multiphasic in their numbers, the end of verses often containing extra embellishments whereas the dry, wrathful command of Eakes easily rips between venomous wide-eyed threats and downward-echoing declaration. Warm and rich in its dark resonances the overall effect of the combined production values is frighteningly dark and deep but… not buried in the slightest even at ear-blistering volume.

Opener “Charnel Passages” may be one of the longer pieces on the album at just over ~eight minutes in length but that doesn’t mean it rolls out uneventful per one of the core compositional strengths found within each of their releases is an abundance of engaging, brutal rhythmic intensity which knows exactly when to take a step back into a surreal mode. The thrashing charge of this new version of the band is undeniably thrilling to start, surely some of their most aggressive material to date, and while the resonance of doom is equally important to the character of this album it comes in fits and starts as Side A barrels through, violent and imposing far beyond even what ‘Paradise Envenomed‘ had suggested prior. A big part of this sensation is “Abhorrence Evangelium” which’d not only picked up the pace to a blasting rise but set up the momentum for the next few songs in its churning and darting mazelike rhythms. By throwing in some ‘Formula Fatal to the Flesh‘ type lava and wrath between the lead guitarists this piece insists on its importance even as one of the shortest of the lot thanks to exceptional hurling from Eakes whose register is different in tone from Lowndes‘ but most remarkable for his readable diction. My favorite piece on the album to start, “Necropolis of Obsidian Mirrors”, is nearly psychedelic in its drifts out of consciousness which intermittently ease the palpable malaise retched forth by the vocalist, Vincent-esque cadence which lends a ruthless and disgusted tone to this deceptively simple arrangement.

By the time Side A had revealed its wares I’d already been deeply invested in the return of Cruciamentum, having admittedly approached without any doubt in mind that they would succeed to create the arcane, elite yet deeply atmospheric vision one’d expect. That might end up being the most common criticism fairly floated their way, the next-level of the band arrives within the realm of good taste and without desperation for a “great work” so much as all the right ingredients and compelling motions made to supply a great album. — Sitting with ‘Obsidian Refractions‘ on repeat I’d picked up on the riffs-first approach here most readily on that first half where a bit of speed and doom go a long way in rethinking the eternally sharpened mechanisms of 90’s death metal. This feeling continues into Side B but with some additional layering of atmosphere, doom n’ gloom treading such as the listless chorales/keys used on “Scorn Manifestation” which provide the first deeper bite into said realm of eerie searching tonality without culling the thrashing, ‘old school’ feeling kick of the rhythms. We step down into mid-paced territory from there and I’d say unto the strongest pieces overall when set in context of climactic function, first with the oeuvre spanning recap of “Interminable Rebirth of Abomination” and then the ten minute stare into the eyes of death with “Drowned”, a piece which is as essential for its cumulative traits as it is for its ghastly atmosphere, fiery leads, and interplay between doomed and damned alight movements which give our descent a tormented affect overall.

Cruciamentum have impressed and surprised me in a fundamental way with this dark, doomed yet set-afire burst of death metal and it all comes down to putting their own designs on the old ways and making them bigger, not only more imposing and ridden with impossible depth but smarter in their otherwise violent craft. Though it might come across obnoxiously blunt in the context of analysis, they’ve first and foremost brought riffs which kicked my ass and tied my brain wrinkles into knots here, blasting through their ocean of pale viscera and burning debris to the point that I’d not given any real thought to the eight year gap or the changes in register/performers. On that same tip I couldn’t fault a band in this style for not representing the desperate ambitions of modernity or “progressivity”, as that’d have felt desperate compared to this personalized and long-built observation of morbid death metal. ‘Obsidian Refractions‘ is undeniably my kind of death metal and that leaves me hiking all available thumbs up in reaction to my time spent with it thus far. A very high recommendation.

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