All that they touch they will corrupt under the many hands of supernatural cabal and witching protectorate, a hypnotized and dissonant-minded army that’d seep from the cracks in caves and subterranean caverns for aeons in order to reach the growling skull and down-turned cross at the pulpit of Santiago, Chile-based occult death metal quartet Unaussprechlichen Kulten. Eyes whited with possession and arms loosed in frantic displays of swaying and cutting motions the delivery of ‘Häxan Sabaoth‘ is daimonian in its timbre yet still able to siren signal to the order with the sweeping change it brings, a years-hewn sophistication of forms and their render which once again finds the cult’s cause surging with their own future-sight and ancient motive. An experience of repeatable complexity yet an ever-flowing mass of dread and harrowing venture, this sixth full-length album from the band thankfully still wields the hardened, jagged edge and fire of pure underground death metal as they continue to press forward down their own remarkable two decade-plus path.

Unaussprechlichen Kulten formed circa 1999 and from that point their evolution was more-or-less cut between three eras wherein the technical yet bludgeoned tendencies of founding vocalist/guitarist Joseph Curwen being refracted off of two different guitarists. The formative years of the band yielded three demos and two full-lengths wherein Black Gore, current guitarist for Endless Sedition, aided in the fostering of a brutal and technical approach which’d incorporated the grotesque dissonant bulge of albums like ‘Unholy Cult‘ into a raw almost Deeds-tinged underground style. I particularly like their under-rated 2005 debut ‘Wake Up in the Night of Walpurgis‘ though I would concede that the more original touch of the band would arrive in development with their ‘The Madness from the Sea‘ (2010) demo tape when the line-up had stripped back to a duo in preparation for a split LP with Mike Browning‘s After Death. There are very few bands who’d managed to find some link between the classic death metal canon and incorporate a technical and dissonant style that’d fit in a natural sense and they’d figured it out on ‘Baphomet Pan Shub-Niggurath‘ (2014), their first release to include guitarist Herbert West (Black Vortex) and first of many releases for Iron Bonehead who they’ve stuck with since. The progression of style within those first fifteen years makes good sense getting up to that point and you couldn’t have talked about the dark underground of Chile over the years without mentioning their unique evolution, though they’d not yet pushed the limits of that sound entirely.

The precedence built here is that time is a linear pathway for this band, change is additive and ultimately there hasn’t yet been a moment where they’d needed to look back over their shoulder and regress. When ‘Keziah Lilith Medea (Chapter X)‘ released in 2017 I’d initially hated it for its rotten-amped guitar sound, chaotic movements and extreme focus on dissonant moldering but in the space of a couple of years I’d found those were the reasons why it stood out and where a lot of the character of Unaussprechlichen Kulten had been most bold and cutting, I’d said as much in retrospect upon reviewing their follow-up (‘Teufelsb​ü​cher‘, 2019) a couple of years later. Punishingly raw as production values had been at that point I think I’d come to similar conclusions then as I have now, that certain aspects of these compositions and guitar techniques have been by nature there since the start of the band but each new record is approached as a fresh conception, a different story or vision. With this in mind I’d suggest that ‘Häxan Sabaoth‘ will likely appear wildly different from past works even after close inspection of their last two releases in terms of both the overall sound design (production values in general) as the raw and live-wired dissonant side of the band being given hazier and shredding delirium as the main focus of the guitar work. All ratios are distinctly set between the brutal, the dissonant, and the dramatic presentation to the point that all enhances the flooding-forth and frothing wild style introduced herein.

Never a band to shy away from a grand entrance, Unaussprechlichen Kulten do well to introduce the interim work they’ve done in advancement of their craft from the start with opener “Lamia Sucuba” presenting a less blunted set of riffs out the gates, spirited use of guitar layers which present the first suggestion of the semi-melodic and often lead guitar guided voice of ‘Häxan Sabaoth‘. From that grandiose starting point the pace of this album is surprisingly fluid, not necessarily eased of all tension but billowing within the smoke of its volcanic ritual rather than quaking apart into the harder-cut, grinding riffs found more often in the past. This is a remarkable change which avoids losing sight of fan expectations for confrontational material but seems aimed at a mastery of all elements available.

“Cuatro Velas de Cebo Infantil” carries on the sensational tarantella of motion the album quickly begins to embody, as the experience is lead moreso by guitar solos than vocals in terms of its quickly bounding and stabbing movement from verse to verse. The Immolation-esque swerve of their work is not forgotten but tempered within a mélange of almost Nocturnus-level leads, eerily dramatic use of atmospheric keys, and countless riff changes. The method which they’ve developed over the years isn’t entirely thrown out the window but the rolling stampede of ‘Häxan Sabaoth‘ is refreshing in its tragic voice and strong momentum, carrying well on through five minute pieces which could’ve easily been shorn down shorter if not for the buzzing dread calling for continued immerse. From my point of view there is as much of the surrealism of ‘Thresholds‘ here as there is the weirding sway of ‘With Fear I Kiss the Burning Darkness‘.

Without intending to skip past mention of the uniquely set chord shaping which introduces “Our Almighty Chthonic Lords” the deepest point of induction into Unaussprechlichen Kulten‘s harrowing yet thoughtfully sweeping work is perhaps “Hexennippel”, wherein a softly-set discord rouses a sinister groove which eventually amasses one a huge post-“Where the Slime Live” slow burning step into what is essentially an ‘old school’ tech-death piece, something like ‘Here in After‘ with some sense of tragedian melodicism. There is a brilliantly creeping finesse found within this piece which does well to provide an example of the organic, writhing Eldritch muse of the band and their own brand of sophistication found amidst both the chaotic and occasionally canonical ebb of death metal past-and-present. We’ve heard this level of mastery from the band for years on some level but there is something remarkable about placing such a dense, shuddering beast of a song right at the belly of the full listen, creating a molten pit at the central point of the experience while in the process of redefining the voice of the band in some sense.

“Back to the Mother Hydra and Father Dagon” emphasizes what a ride the full listen of ‘Häxan Sabaoth‘ presents, a striding but not unbroken thread of oily brooding and blasted-through movement, again an almost thrashing ‘progressive’ sensibility slightly permeates the sickly atmosphere of their work and to the point where they’ve smoothed over some (thankfully not all) of the harsher-cut edges found on their two prior LPs. This sensation of movement, determined directionality with some room left for tirades and side-stepped motions keeps the complex dual rhythm guitar compositions moving swiftly along their path and avoiding congestion, closer “Die Teufelsbucher” has an almost early melodic death metal rise toward its midpoint in this respect before the greater dance of its verses reveal which from my point of view has a hint of The Chasm in its rolling stride and ranting leads. Rather than creating a multi-part epic or a car crash of ideas in finale it feels like ‘Häxan Sabaoth‘ intentionally uses most of Side B to sunset, to counter-balance its headier and confrontational starting point with easier flowing movement. Per my own experience this created a slope, a momentum towards the end which played out best when the album was left on repeat and immediately cycled back to the focus of the opener. At the very least it’d appeared designed with intention without feeling forced or, merely filling space.

Year over year the latest Unaussprechlichen Kulten has inevitably been their best work, such is the nature of perpetually moving forward along one’s own left hand path. In that respect, yes, ‘Häxan Sabaoth‘ is the band’s best work to date unless you’d fallen off their doctrine along the way or got stuck on any one particular chapter. Enriched production values and refined composition aside they’ve still got riffs and not just big, rotten death metal movements but all manner of gnarled edges and thorny ravines to inspect, re-inspect and enjoy over the course of time. If the previous two releases from the band can be considered iteration in perfection of an idea then we should leave our analysis of this latest record viewing it as a wilding leap into new territory delivered at an even higher standard. A very high recommendation.

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