Godless - Adversus Parousia (2026) Review

For me, absence never killed momentum. Despite being active since the late '90s, Chile's Godless released their debut full-length album in 2010, and circle back to studio action 16 years later with the second album, Adversus Parousia, having sparsely released only a handful of EPs and demos in between these three decades. My first experience with the band was on the Omega Omnipotens EP (2017), which left me an impression good enough to explore previous material, but I still almost didn't recognize it's the same band when I glanced at the news of Adversus Parousia earlier this year. The record's kernel, if you haven't already guessed, is one of archaic death metal, with a bombastic delivery and an undeniable South American harshness embedded to it.

Suppression - The Sorrow of Soul Through Flesh (2022) Review

Band: Suppression

Country: Chile

Album: The Sorrow of Soul Through Flesh

Label: Unspeakable Axe Records

Website: Facebook

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What needs to be stressed when looking at this new Chilean band, with only a couple of demos and an EP under their belts so far, is that it consists of members who also play in the - also relatively new - death / thrash band Ripper. And over there, they have shown to have an excellent grip on creating fast and pumped, old school rooted, menacing metal with no elements of modernity, as with 2016's Experiment of Existence being to me, one of the best album of its kind for that decade. The same gifted individuals now take a turn towards purer death metal and the underground should be happy.

For people listening to this music more than just to find out what they like and pass their time, it's an ordeal to end up finding a band with substance, mainly because of the rate records are released and how different approaches sometimes miss core points. Once one tries to play it old school, one sounds worse than what we have already heard. Once one tries to go on cleaner and more modern playing, one puts oneself in danger of lacking meaning in the music for the sake of ultra complex technique. In the end, I am frustrated to listen to 90% of death metal bands with fancy album covers out there. Oh, what is this, another Swedish chainsaw sound record about death? Just what we needed.

Considering these side notes, Suppression is a breath of fresh air in a post-apocalyptic, barren and uninhabitable wasteland. This band understands the essence of the riff. The flow and structure of their tracks is perfect, every instrument is audible and has a purpose in the composition, and they dare to experiment more than once in this album. Production-wise, the same muddy sound of the Ripper albums is ongoing, but it shouldn't be anything other than that. There's a ton of bulldozing guitar melodies all over the place, wonderfully placed together in seamless changes of tempos and it's above all, naturally heavy. 

Of the two instrumentals, there is one short acoustic piece and a more elaborated piece "Unwinded Harmonies", in the same spirit like the rest of the record, only more abstract and experimental that reminds a bit of early technical death metal's unconventional side, but only in parts of it. I liked all the solos I heard in The Sorrow of Soul Through Flesh, which also features vocals very close to the style of Obituary, and it's the only minor drawback I could find. While there's nothing wrong with how the vocalist sounds, sometimes it gets to close to this way of singing (for example in the second track "Overfeeding Gaps"), which is already a bit particular.

Apart from that, the record is full of amazing death metal tracks. The opening "Lifelessness", as well as "Lost Eyes" and "Monochromatic Chambers" are highlights, for their glorious guitar and bass moments, with the latter having a vibrant presence in the album, as it should always be. The take home message here is the same as in the other band of these Chileans, that you can still play old school without boring the listener to death, and it can be worthy listening to even further away from the ears of the fanatics of traditional metal that don't go for anything else. As much as I like Ripper, I like Suppression now.

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Release date: April 25th, 2022

Tracklist:

1. Lifelessness

2. Overfeeding Gaps 

3. Monochromatic Chambers

4. Unperpetual Misery

5. Unwinding Harmonies

6. Lost Eyes

7. Misunderstanding Reality

8. Self-Eaten Alive

9. Arrowheads

10. Extortion Behaviors

Slaughtbbath - Hail to Fire (2013) Review

Slaughtbbath "Hail to Fire"
Spring 2013, Proselytism

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Ok lads. Chile and South America in general, is not famous for its romantic metal acts. In fact, they have their own stench of a scene, from brutal death metal to black metal, with new bands coming out quite often. Slaughtbbath are not newcomers though. I was not familiar with them and this is their debut full length, yet they have been jamming since 2002 with lots of demos/EPs/splits on their backs already.

First of all, if you have seen this release before, you might be wondering what front art is this. Well, its an alternate cover they chose for the vinyl release, and a much better one, if you ask me. Once again, this is a well crafted blasphemic black metal album, for the fans of Embrace of Thorns or Impious Blood, or just anyone that admits Von are worthless compared to the actual bands of their subgenre (no, im not letting it go). They are not bringing up anything new to the table, just improving the characteristics already in use, since the album is significantly better than half of its competitors. The production helps a lot to this conclusion, since it gives power to every instrument, everything is clear and nice, it lacks superficial effect tricks, which is great of course.

I appreciate the fact that they did not use any interludes, intros or outros. It is straightforward, direct and merciless black metal all the way. There are both middle paced and fast paced songs, and the only "quiet" moment of the whole release is a clean intro in the self-titled song, which lasts a little bit under a minute. I really like the dissonant riffs and the growling vocals here, as well as the energetic drumming and audible bass lines. Most of the album is driven by tremolo guitars and blast beats, they're playing in the same pattern again and again, but still they manage to eliminate any signs of boredom with their great riffs, the clean sound and the speed metal solos.

These guys praise the bestial side of the genre and they are doing it well. If you like your bands with a shitload of filth, chains and big metalic wrist bands, goat heads and weapons, this is for you. It should make the day of Black Withery/Archgoat fans. And please, take a moment to check their ordering bundles, since their label Proselytism usually puts out some kick ass packages.

DAMAGE: 8.5/10