Charnel Altar are an Australian blackened death metal band and this is their debut album.
Charnel Altar’s 47-minute debut album reeks of horrific misery and grim nightmare. The music combines doom, death, and black metal into a hideously twisted mass of guitars, bass, and drums. It’s blackened death/doom of a sort, only not what that appellation might initially conjure; Abatement of the Sun is bred from far older and darker stock, with an old-school underground feel that’s as infectious as it is authentically nasty.
An aura of pure, lightless, hopeless doom pervades this album deeply, despite how fast or slow the band are playing. And when it comes to paces, they do it all; everything from funeral crawls to blast beats are included here, and all of them sound malignant, warped, and evil. The music exudes malevolent atmosphere to the point where you start to wonder if it’s getting darker and colder where you are, or whether it’s just all in your mind. There are some harrowing guitar parts on here, some of which sound so otherworldly as to feel like they don’t belong in our dimension.
As for the vocals, well, surely these aren’t of human origin? There are two vocalists, and both of them spew forth a combination of deep growls and bestial roars the likes of which surely must be daemonic in origin.
Shudder.
In pleased to say I survived Abatement of the Sun, although why I keep tempting fate by returning to its infernal realm is beyond me. Thinking about it, I feel a lot more worn and haggard then before I started listening to this. I’m sure I never used to have so many scars, either.
If you fancy your chances and have a strong constitution, then dive into Charnel Altar’s world and experience the horror first hand.
Wonderbox Metal 