Speaking to the Jungian inner world as a place of infinite entombment for the affected psyche Warsaw, Poland-based death metal quintet CLAIRVOYANCE muse upon the limitless potential for dread available to the traumatized mind on this well-formed debut full-length album. A collection of imposing, often moshable mid-paced ‘new old school’ death metal pieces ‘Chasm of Immurement‘ appreciably evokes the imagined intensity of inhumation and the vastness available to the condemned mind in a brief yet pulverizing tract. Though their compositional hand is overly fixated and becomes predictably stated with some familiarity the effect of their work smokes via plenty enough riffs and a heinous guitar tone.

Clairvoyance formed circa 2019 by way of vocalist Maciej Cesarczyk and guitarist Denis Didenko where at the time the path of least resistance dictated an ‘old school’ death metal inspired sound. They’d quickly rounded their gig out to a quartet and put together a short demo tape (‘Demo‘, 2020) which’d released soon after. I think I’d described that demo as “fast cheap old school thrills“, something like that in brief review, finding their approach non-specific, typical. The early inspiration for the band was suggested as classic Finnish and United States fare though their taste for the modern standard of the late 2010’s made more sense per their debut EP (‘Threshold of Nothingness‘, 2022) which I’d also reviewed. Between a few line-up changes and a quickly evolving tonality it wasn’t all that clear to me what this band were developing between those first two recordings as the first was abrupt and groove-driven and the second was atmospheric yet chaotic. Judging by this debut LP the major goal in preamble was to work up to a reasonable professional standard and provide a tour/gig worthy experience centered around mid-paced death metal. Drawing a line from their earlier compositions toward the new makes little sense as key roles have swapped and the process appears to have been trial-and-error rather than visionary in getting to this point.

Not sure if it’ll provide any psychic relief to long-time death metal fans who’re laden with slug-core death on the daily but I should at least suggest up front that ‘Chasm of Immurement‘ -does- have riffs and isn’t built upon a foundation of the dry and predictable posturing of nowadays mid-paced generica. Though hardcorish riffs do gird each of the six ~6 minute pieces Clairvoyance manage between these six songs their overall compositional hand has a sophisticated, or, ambitious curve to it that’ll reveal with some patience. Opener “Eternal Blaze” briefly works against that pro-tip per its starting point yet the riff count scales up quick enough that it only feels like they’ve eased into the depth of their entrance. Just as important to note is the huge, skull-grating guitar tone they’ve set at the center of this recording as it does well to keep the ear focused on the riff while allowing the rest of the band to generate a chasmic setting with rapt intensity coming from each musician involved. The way the main rhythm guitar tone hangs on sustained chords and the band’s general wield of it speaks to the mid-90’s era of death metal a la Obituary vaguely.

That thought carries over into the opening riff to “Hymn of the Befouled” with its slippery groove arriving just as the song hits a key guitar solo which I assume comes from Derrick Vella (Tomb Mold, Dream Unending) per its alien sprawl though there is an equally estranged harmonized Azagthothian lead ~1:39 minutes in along those same lines which I assume is from Snét guitarist Marek Drahota. Either way the order actually hits both folks contribute eerie guitar solos to the song and kinda make the point up front that ‘Chasm of Immurement‘ needed way more lead guitars of this magnitude as we step off the plateau presented by this song; Side A concludes with “Fleshmachine” a good example of how these folks’ve taken guitar-centric presentation seriously, modulating their pacing and threading together riffs which are simple enough yet deliver a sense of cryptic movement in progression. Granted this often arrives alongside rushing grooves which aren’t too dissimilar to earliest Tomb Mold and this occasionally interrupts the brutality of it all with a sort of herky-jerky swing. For this song they walk us toward slow, discordant sludged movement ’til a circa ’98 Earth Crisis worthy riff fires up ~1:05 minutes in and drops off after about eight rolls through, keeping up with frequent transitions as they cut their way beyond that point. Their passage through this song does read as “idea salad” as opposed to riff salad yet the tone of the album has been consistent enough in building those ideas that they’re easily welcomed down the tunnel with the rest.

Over on Side B “Reign of Silence” makes good on the promise of something inspired by USDM but carrying the waft of classic Finndeath, only here Clairvoyance‘s guitarists transition between some of their better riffs with Incantation-esque milling and (to a lesser degree) some moshable chunking (see: riff ~2:08 minutes in). ‘Chasm of Immurement‘ starts to win me over around this point as a viable, repeatable death metal album and despite the primitivity of statement carried within their basal groove-hand. Even the kinda dumb riffs that hit on “Blood Divine” are sold well and the energy of the feat at hand is believable enough, even if it isn’t murderously applied. This song addresses the best and worst aspects of the full listen for my own taste: Their songcraft is often linear, repeating various sections in clusters as they pass from an energetic start toward slower, moshable tiers as the batteries generally drain at consistent intervals (the first and fourth minute of each song) in making room for a conclusive entrance and stopping point. Without their rhythms returning to any of those energetic ideas the mind should naturally wander away from the thought midway. On one hand it keeps the full listen feeling emergent and unpredictable to start, and on the other hand it all stagnates a bit in retrospect as each song becomes a familiar collection of parts sans statement.

For a debut album from a band who’d started from square one roughly five years prior ‘Chasm if Immurement‘ is impressively well-formed beyond the current expected tropes of its sub-genre. Clairvoyance have a sharp ear for the primal efficacy of death metal and generally do well to build tumult and easier-going grooves within this largely mid-paced format. A death metal album should burn the ear from across the room, leave the listener’s skull smoking on a sonic level, and these folks have done well to present a mean enough sonic experience though I’m looking forward to what they’ll accomplish one or two albums down the road with more time to sink into their roles and develop greater idiosyncrasy. A high recommendation.

---