Today I bring you some new blackened thrash, furious OSDM-worship and some hauntingly dissonant cavernous black metal, all with a Spanish flavour.

Hellish

 

South America is a hotbed for blackened thrash, particularly Chile it seems. After a series of demos, the 4-pronged attack from Santiago known as Hellish recently released a maniacal EP titled Theurgist’s Spell. After the short-lived clean intro, the band waste no time getting down to what they do best, thrashing your face off. There is no relent throughout the four tracks. Mixing the best of both the Teutonic and South American scenes of the 1980’s to create a writhing beast that will scold your eardrums like Satan himself modded your headphones to squirt tobasco on every snare hit, something I hear he does in his spare time. The riffing has that infernal heat comparable to their Chilean counterparts in Invocation Spells and Invincible Force, with drumming to suit. The vocals are exactly what you’d expect for this style, further sharpening this attack to the point where even Baphomet’s horns appear blunt in comparison. Stab play already!

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In Obscurity Revealed

This 2015 album only came to my attention through its upcoming cassette re-release through Portugal’s Caverna Abismal Records. In Obscurity Revealed hail from Mexico City and play a brand of death metal that harnesses the beastly strength of OSDM and rides it like a lunatic rodeo-rider through the caverns where modern underground death metal dwells. The 4 tracks on offer barely crack the 10 minute mark, but this fact is not really a downfall, rather a strength, as I’ve found myself pushing repeat on this like some kind of evil fiend. Fans of Cruciamentum‘s killer debut from last year should get in here, as the riffage is of a similar style, albeit more adrenaline charged, with the vocals forming a deathly combination of the former with those of Athenatos. Tap the vein of fury below.

Suspiral

Last but not least is Spain’s Suspiral. This two-piece is about to drop their first full-length offering of black death on the 1st of March. If I were to attempt to sum up these 3 tracks with just one word, it would be tortured. Not tortured in the mental anguish sense, but rather in a physical ‘tie you to a fucking post and unleash the abhorrence of existence upon you’ kinda way. The leads in particular convey distress at every turn. A chilling atmosphere is achieved through persistent use of shrieking bar vibrato that recalls to mind the kind of disquiet that I first felt as a teen listening to the eerie section (3:55) on the classic Slayer track “Praise Of Death” from Hell Awaits. The main difference here is that it is not set atop an old-school thrash track but rather an already haunting cavernous black metal attack. The effect is profound, and while there is quite a great deal of intrigue to be found within these 30+ minutes, the aforementioned persistence of the daunting leads are most certainly the defining feature that separates Suspiral from their contemporaries. Equal parts entropic, dissonant and merciless, this release is going to please those who seek it.