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BEYONDITION "Abysmal Night" CD (Chaos Records 2023)
Germany's BEYONDITION began life in 2015. A four-song demo followed in 2017, but that lineup later fell apart. Now beginning undead life, last-remaining founding member Matin Vasari decided he would record the songs that BEYONDITION had written to that point, so he asked old collaborators Armin Rave (founder of Pavor) and Patrick Schroeder (formerly of Centaurus-A and Valborg), knowing that they would deliver. The songs were written and produced with passion for the old spirit, and now they arrive as Abysmal Night!
BEYONDITION's first full-length recording, Abysmal Night is a fresh blast of crypt-old air. Oft-doomy death metal done in the old way, the power-trio's sound here harkens to a host of glorious trend-bucking bands - Asphyx, Pentacle, Cianide, and mid-period Unleashed among them - but with the bewitching air of early Samael and Mortuary Drape darkening that utter death to lethal levels. BEYONDITION's crush & groove are literally massive, resounding like echoes from the abyss but descending downward with the crush of Heaven collapsing. Nothing fancy, Abysmal Night is stripped bare of ornamentation, only focusing on the primeval power of riff and rhythm: hypnotic is its movement, and otherworldly is its effect. However, just a faint touch of spooky synths lingers to occasionally color that sepulchral slipstream. And while the band rightly state, "Fuck modern production and all posers!," the production to Abysmal Night possesses a poignant balance between molten heaviness and supernatural atmosphere, altogether making for a timeless immersion into ancient splendors. BEYONDITION hail the OLD!