Aiming for readable ‘old school’ death metal morbidity from an obscure vision Swedish trio ABYSMAL WINDS cast a dark shadow on this fourth year beyond their initial plague-era development, landing upon a debut full-length album which promises only as much as it can deliver. Possessed by visions of thrashing death, blasted at arcane muse, and doomed-over arcs of meandering riffcraft ‘Magna Pestilencia‘ inserts what keen nuance it can into a record which does not intend to escape the simple, straightforward nature of its girding hand. Again, they’ve only just delivered what’d been assured was possible on their demo era and in the process made good on presenting their own vision of olden horrified death as it stands today.

Abysmal Winds formed circa 2020 between guitarist A. Nekromonger (Avsky, Omnizide) and drummer Gaddur (Corpsehammer) who’ve collectively been active (beyond short-lived teenaged gigs) in various bands since the early 2000’s. At the time the band was more of a placeholder for song ideas that didn’t fit into their black metal related projects but after a few pieces had accumulated they’d added bassist/vocalist HCF (Acolytes of Moros, ex-Anguish) to the roster and made the choice to pursue what they’ve described as “dark death metal”. This implied a traditional (outta the 80’s) into the early 90’s approach to death metal which’d been recognizably regional on their first demo (‘Doom Prayer‘, 2022) where my first thought was something like ‘Clandestine‘-era Entombed or Interment‘s (Sweden) return in the early 2010’s, retaining the wilding side of ‘Severed Survival‘ song structures but trailing off into tremolo-picked tangents and blasting through a few sections to mix things up but sticking to a straight-forward traditional sound. There is a bit more to their whole deal since then but you can pretty much head into ‘Magna Pestilencia‘ expecting these folks to fully deliver on all that that demo tape implied without fucking around.

The main inspiration that the folks in Abysmal Winds take from death metal comes from the darker, murkier edges of the underground with appreciation for primitivity and morbidity, a sense of foreboding doom which is not so literally translated from suggested influences (Sadistic Intent, Incantation) for the duration of this ~31 minute nine song record. As we hit the brief intro (“Incantation”) and roll into the frenzied intro to “Sacrilegious” there is a brief thrill in the way that they’ve charged in howling and blasting but they’ve quickly focused on a punkish beat set beside the simple but effective type of riff first found on earliest Dismember/Carnage releases. Though they pick up zero heavy rock influences from a certain era of Swedish death metal their guitar tone is utilized in a way that it feels ancient but familiar right from the start. It isn’t the most exciting moment on the record but they’ve done well to begin setting expectations which (most of) the rest of the album delivers upon.

Where ‘Magna Pestilencia‘ gets interesting for my own taste is probably “Obliteration”, once again for first impression made by the introduction, a doomed start which soon seeks out opportunities for more rabid blasts within its verses. This particular song speaks more clearly to the bigger picture as the d-beaten and droning simplicity of their more Swedish instincts sits next to an appreciation for gloom, doom, and more elaborately sketched arcs of riff. Side A continues on making good use of all of those elements with a few bursts of speed, a big riff or two, and closes on “World Cadaver”, the one song beyond the intro track that they’ve brought in from ‘Doom Prayer‘, supplying the right sort of punctuation for the mid-point on a record that just kinda blazes on through without a second thought.

Stripped down to honest but pro-level layers (via Endarker Studios/Devo Andersson) and buzzing together in a confined space ‘Magna Pestilencia‘ loses the hollow, metallic ring of the demo tape’s vocals but retains some of the echo (or, reverb?) applied yet retains the buried alive intensity of HCF‘s vocals which we find most prominent on the clearly-wrapping-it-up kicks of “Ivory Tomb” and “Horrid Visions” in the second half. These songs feel less developed and/or spiked with interest compared to the first half but generally reflect the same goals and ideals with the latter providing a gloomier highlight as the full listen winds down. As the final piece/title track indulges in its grand finale moment I couldn’t help but feel like as much as Abysmal Winds hadn’t intended on making a distinctly Swedish death metal album, being bigger fans of the earlier U.S. and U.K. side of things, the result is extremely straight forward unless actively seeking out the nuance held within most of these songs.

What is most effectively conveyed throughout Abysmal Winds‘ debut album is its mill through a dark mood, a sufficiently ominous atmosphere which carries out an otherwise no-nonsense death metal agenda. While fans of classic ‘old school’ death metal in the simplest of terms should appreciate the familiar, easy to jump into ride through ‘Magna Pestilencia‘ from my point of view the band needed some extra time and road-testing to develop something extra that is their own and, well, that side of their efforts -is- there on this record but they’ve not yet made it the loudest and most representative part of their sound. Again, if you have the attunement for the nuance available here and don’t mind all the tremolo-picked jogs taken getting there this should prove a well above-average debut in any case. A moderately high recommendation.

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