I’m going to be completely honest and start by saying that Anthropic Rites of Sublimation is a record that sounds like it was written by a group of people who have been left alone in a cave with several drums, a library of severely unpleasant noises and a burning intent to open a portal to the underworld.
Ch’ahom’s second full-length is a ritualistic collision of dissonant black metal, death metal and a good dose of progressive experimentation. The whole cacophony is then wrapped around a concept inspired by the rituals, art and architecture of pre-Hispanic culture. So, in short, it’s challenging music set to rather challenging concepts… If this doesn’t sound like it’s going to get your juices flowing then stop reading now, this isn’t going to get any easier for you. In fact, if you can imagine the members of Gorguts, Blood Incantation and Chained To The Bottom Of The Ocean sitting down to share a hog roast in a cave then you’re almost there…
Cult of Xaman kicks the record off with a combination of eerie soundscapes and tribal percussion, succeeding in giving the listener an immediate sense that something deeply unpleasant is about to occur in the very near future. The production is raw without turning everything into an indistinguishable mess, the cavernous vocals and completely deranged guitar work cut through the murk perfectly. Reign of Nohol brings more technicality into the equation, jumping between blastbeats, grooves and strange rhythmic turns without ever settling into anything remotely predictable. This is clearly designed from the ground up to pull on the internal strings of dread and anxiety…a task that Ch’ahom fully succeed in.
Priests of Lik’in, the central moment of the record, sees them fully indulging the tribal, ceremonial edges of their sound. The percussion, chanting and traditional instrumentation do eventually give way to one of the heaviest moments on the record, an absolute battering ram of sonic power. The guitars lead the charge here, but it’s the vocals that leave you feeling like you’ve been trampled by a thousand horses…it’s an absolute powerhouse of a performance that needs to be recognised!
There is a surprising amount going on here. Dissonance, technical death metal, chaotic lead lines, folk-inspired soundscapes, mind-altering drum performances…it’s a miracle that the record never loses itself in the process. This hellish melting pot is never more evident than on the 10 minute album closer Insemination. It begins with chants and atmosphere before gradually turning into an increasingly oppressive piece of ritualistic extremity, every element of their sound becomes tied together perfectly here and it’s clear that this is what the whole record was building towards.
The only real issue is that Ch’ahom occasionally cram so many ideas into a passage that the individual riffs struggle to leave much of a footprint. The chaos is undoubtedly a large part of the appeal, but it would be nice to get an occasional breath of air before being waterboarded for the hundredth time. That said, Anthropic Rites of Sublimation is at its best precisely because it refuses to behave itself. It’s nasty, strange, technically capable and genuinely atmospheric without becoming another interchangeable slab of cavernous death metal.
Twenty-eight minutes of this is plenty…any longer and we might all start sacrificing goats in our back gardens.
Best Paired with – A herbal draught, a femur bone and some woolen underpants.
Reviewed by Bryn.
Ch’ahom – Anthemic Rites Of Sublimination is out now on 20 buck spin.
Leave a Reply