In fathoming the marbled voids and tunneled pathways beneath our feet we consciously access the underworld, both its outward-flowing curses and the boon of forbidden knowledge available at the very edge of death’s passage. We access spells of crucial divination and nauseating damnation in approach of ‘Caverns‘, the sophomore full-length album from Santiago, Chile-based death metal quartet Meridion as their already unique fortitudes develop into a deeper array of bizarre chthonic vibrations and display a further enriched palette of occult summoning and surreal twist upon tempo and multi-rhythmic channeling. What we gain from the experience is a trip which arrives steadily and in layers, a journey of both wild abstraction and wizened guidance that eases in slow, enchanting the senses as it gradually horrifies the claustrophobic mind loose of its sanity.

Meridion formed circa 2017 by way of SouthernCurse who is best known for his work in Dominus Xul and Trimegisto both of which haven’t been as much of a focus since then, at least in terms of new recordings. The focus of the band’s approach centers around dark and nigh psychedelic atmospheric values inlaid with complex and/or technical rhythms with an avant-garde death metal feeling. They’d employed the crossed streams of Morbid Angel‘s contrapuntal rhythmic voicing and the chaotic but controlled wrath of Portal, wherein some dissonance kept the grooves of ‘old school’ death metal erratic and surreal, on their debut LP (‘Rise From the South‘, 2018), an album I’d reviewed favorably in 2019 when it’d finally been pressed to CD. The erratic rhythmic topple and throat-sung aspect of that debut, what I’d call an occult death metal sound, had been its initial selling point per its use of vocal and guitar effects, detailed pieces but to additional themes of ancient Patagonian and Chilean aboriginal cultures and the mysticism made it a special, memorable release which I’ve held onto since. We can directly contrast the definite but voluminous shape of that first record with the heartier, more predominantly mid-paced dread of ‘Caverns‘ which does away with some of the hazy wrath of the first album for a more eerie plod set in the moldy glow of their cold depths.

The first impression ‘Caverns‘ makes comes by way of blunt, heavier bass driven grooves and in-set layers of keyboards as “Empty Altars” blasts in with a raw, rumbling snap of a riff and cavernous growls, not exactly ‘The Key‘ but a separation of instruments into planes, something closer to ‘Khaos Magick‘ from Eternal Dirge, makes the first impression as leads shred and cathedralesque organs ring atop the first of the slower doom metal adjacent riffs which arise beyond the first minute of the piece. The swerve and lean into that main riff develops in a way which recalls the best of Martin Ain-penned dirges, eventually finding an Incantation-esque exaggeration as the hymnal vocals and surging sci-fi synths begin to weird up the finale of the opener. As a grand entrance it is rightfully a rousing but compelling enough piece to pull at the ear, though it is clear once the lumbering crush of “Darkness Unleashed” that this will be something intentionally different from the first album, not only leaning into those mid-paced death grooves but including haunting guest vocals and dissonant stretches which recall the dread and dissonant ooze of recent Runemagick. I wouldn’t say those first two pieces are enough that the listener will have accurately pegged this album’s sound and style but rather Meridion have impressed up front with a different point of habitation, a setting which invokes the crystalline and echoic caves as much as the impregnable darkness beyond the reach of their torches. If you’ve no patience beyond those first two pieces you will inevitably miss out on the brilliance of ‘Caverns‘ as it develops beyond this mysterious entrance.

Wrathful, puked and echoing inward vocals replace the outward rasp and garbled mock of ‘Rise From the South‘ herein and this becomes more appropriate as ‘Caverns‘ begins to explore the use of all available textures for its layers. “Calafate” for example uses a fairly simple hypnotic riff to anchor its opening verse which distant rasps, immediate growls, and higher echoing chorales appear and reappear in careful timing as they frame the development of the riff’s simple bludgeon. These ornately gilded moments of fixation are probably where Meridion are at thier best on this second album simply because they’ve created an unusual yet always compelling atmosphere which fits the theme well for its foreboding tone and production values. The recording and mix/master of ‘Caverns‘ doesn’t get a plain burial but manage an organic feeling result which allows for a clean read on the riff and bash of their rhythms while also making enough room for extra vocal and keyboard layers. This lends itself well to the slow-trodden pace of the full listen which has now firmly insisted upon its steadiness by the time we hit “Consecration”, though we do get an organ solo and some lift in speed as the piece intensifies.

The most key aspect of Meridion‘s sound that is well-preserved on album number two is this persistent sense of emergence, ever threatening to break into a rift of dark ritualistic psychedelia, and this begins to spark up a bit more on the second half of the album as the need for variation kicks in. “The Curse of Maquehua” returns with slightly more technical throngs of rhythm, edgier bursts of movement and erratic guitar runs (think of ‘Unholy Cult‘ opener for reference) represent an evolution beyond their past work but even when the pace picks up and doubles itself we do not get anything too standard or normative from ‘Caverns‘ and the odd personae of the band only seems to intensify from that point as we step into the final portal. The natural endpoint of this exploration is “Behold Man from Monteverde” and again we face a simple swinging groove, a main riff which wouldn’t be out of place on Side B of ‘Roots‘ as it first introduces itself but soon develops the swerving nausea the rest of the album had already been toying with, once again calling back to their avant-garde side as the song transports us to a nocturnal jungle before returning to the riff, another menacing death-doom feeling monument to bookend the album’s lingering statement.

Although ‘Caverns‘ punches into its sound with great vigor and melts wildly in depiction of its grand vision what it ultimately lacks is a second wind at its mid-point, a piece to pick up the pace more completely before its final two songs do their work in creating a memorable finale. That isn’t to say that “Cold Primitive Land” lacks in any way but that it blends into the flow of the album that it never full indicates the coming turns taken. As such Meridion‘s work might prove a persistent dirge for some listeners on first listen, though I believe fans of mid-paced and even death/doom metal in the classic sense will appreciate the swaggering grooves and atmospheric dread of these songs. Otherwise the absolute fixation and atmospheric development found within the first several pieces is its own creative vibration, easily read in its movement but eerie in its unusual state of entrancement; Cryptic and obscured as some of the themes of the album are the curation of this album upholds the high standard of their first with evocative album art from Nox Fragor Artworks and a similar color palette. Though I cannot comment on the lyrics of the album the voyage into the unknown, pressing on through the darkness under the threat of death amidst the unknown is well communicated by the music and all of this comes together for an appreciable beast of a death metal album which cuts itself off at exactly the right time, allowing for easy repetition and delving into its layers per a reasonable ~38 minute length. A high recommendation. [80/100]

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