Haunted and horrified by the tornadic limbs of all manner of phantasm whipping through the dark Zarazoga, Spain-based ‘old school’ death metal trio Apparition depict the terror of the living dead, ghasts and restless ghouls in riotous upheaval on this thrashed-at and morbid debut full-length. Crafted by veterans of the best traditions of extreme metal and presented in an entirely un-fucked with traditional style ‘Fear the Apparition‘ recalls the best of the late 80’s/early 90’s North American and European death metal standards at their peaking fiery clip and do so while skipping past the usual awkward stage of growth. The surety with which they approach these eight death metal songs is well-matched by horror-themed tension, a warning of death around every corner their menacing riffcraft illustrates.

Apparition formed circa 2018 between the longtime rhythm section of Ataraxy and an ex-member of black metal bands Amnion and Empty and with a clear idea of playing death metal in mind. The result of their efforts was a well-received first set of demo recordings (‘Apparition‘, 2021) a brief three-song tape that’d caught the attention of four different labels who expressed quick interest in multiple versions of its wares. Expectations were made clear enough at that point, moderately high standard for early 90’s style death metal, something like early Pestilence and Malevolent Creation when thrash metal was still fresh in their blood and Death‘s first couple of records generally set the tone otherwise (see: “Demonic Torment”.) Carrying a certain level of brutal thrash into that sphere allowed for an exaggerated form a la earlier Skeletal Remains and Rude and that is where I’d more-or-less place the sound of that demo and especially this LP. The major difference is that ‘Fear the Apparition‘ delivers in a far more polished and detailed form than their tape, focused on the riff and the flow of death metal grooves with narrative purpose, well elevated beyond the usual riffless hardcorish slime of today.

Originally released by Headsplit Records back in July of 2023 and newly reissued on cassette, CD and vinyl LP by way of F.D.A. Records Apparition‘s debut full-length album delivers a pristine enough example of classic death metal adjacent to death-thrash metal forms that it’d become an obsession of mine when I’d discovered it a few months after its original release. Calling it “pure riff-obsessed thrashing death metal” and eventually setting it as #25 on my Top 75 Albums of the Year I’m no doubt a fan of ‘Fear the Apparition‘ and likely for the sake of spending far too many years listening to nothing but the 80’s ’til 90’s transition for death metal for most of my twenties. As such, every song here serves a chunk of prime “retro” death metal feeling which doesn’t pander so much as skillfully wield the ancient atmospheric motions and thrashing breaks only deeply studied obsession and nostalgia could activate.

“The Black Witch” is a fine example of a thrash riff built late 80’s death metal harass, stated in a heavy metal fashion and given tension by way of darting and blasting bursts of rhythmic push that find their center in mid-paced stomping verses. As often as we point to ‘old school’ traits in underground death metal today here we find the spiritus of the old ways and not a general inkling of the early-to-mid 90’s peaking zeitgeist. Easily one of the best songs on the full listen “Mummified Sanctity” is the first piece to pull me in to pay closer attention to Apparition‘s work overall. The ‘Malleus Maleficarum‘-level thrashing death metal riff ride out beyond the mid-point of the song delivers more than just a big chunking rhythm to remember but the sort of eerie death metal atmosphere few bands ever muster in their classics-minded phase. The way that “Mummified Sanctity” fades into the fast tom rolls that hit during the intro to the brain-drilling “Soldier of Death” before the Tom Araya-esque scream howls into view. This is ‘Fear the Apparition’ at peak firing squad level movement, full of killing energy for days.

This is all the more impressive considering much of this album was self-recorded beyond the drum parts, mixing and master all done at Javi Felez‘ Moontower Studios. Throw in a few mid-paced grooves on the second half, some slightly more half-stepping movement here and there, and a solid enough exploration of pace overall and we’ve gotten a very well-rounded and mean assed debut from Apparition here with ‘Fear the Apparition‘. Album art from Markus Vesper does a fine job of setting the scene and the tone of this music as horrified classicist death metal and nothing more. If you’d missed this release when it’d debuted last year on a smaller scale make sure you don’t miss this broader spread reissue as these folks are off to an amazing start with this album. A high recommendation.

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