ALBUM REVIEW: From The Abyss – Eshtadur
Often regarded as a deep and seemingly bottomless chasm, and in some realms the regions of hell, the abyss is a place few dare to truly dwell voluntarily. Historically, to come from the abyss is to arise from a place of desolation and darkness. Fittingly then for Colombian blackened death metal trio ESHTADUR, their hellish albeit grandiose soundscapes go hand-in-hand with their fourth album’s title, From The Abyss.
Hailing from a hemisphere and continent that is more aligned with the eighties thrash metal heyday and the golden era of NWOBHM, ESHTADUR rip up the unofficial rulebook with an album that eclipses their previous work, exploring the grandiosity of symphonic metal within the distillation of blackened death metal. Whilst their work has always resembled elements of BEHEMOTH, ESHTADUR have followed in their footsteps in expanding and evolving their sonics, much like the former did on 2018’s I Loved You At Your Darkest. If you’re looking for a primer to From The Abyss, imagine latter-day BEHEMOTH going toe-to-toe in the studio with SEPTICFLESH and FLESHGOD APOCALYPSE, the latter’s grandiose symphonic tendencies wrapping melodically around the former’s fervorously caliginous caverns.
Whilst 2017’s Mother Gray was a rough-and-ready blueprint for things to come, From The Abyss at times sounds as if it was accomplished by a completely different band. Bassist Andres el negro and session drummer Michal Lysejko create terrifying tormenting rhythm sections that deliver blistering blastbeats as often as they do pulverising percussive pits, providing a platform for guitarists Jorg August and Alejo Guitarecho to craft melodic plains for their music to traverse. Opener Lowborn Bastard is as rich in orchestration and grandiosity as is the depth of its darkness whilst The Oathbreaker is as close to melodic as a hole in the head as possible in this genre.
From The Abyss is at almost all times a masterwork, picking and mixing the cream of the crop of symphonic and blackened death metal like a kid in a candy store. However, there’s moments of absolute madness that bring you out of the abyss ESHTADUR have strived so hard to send you diving into. All She Wrote is at once an album highlight and its Achilles heel; it’s arguably one of their finest songs to date but it has no business being on an album that could rival BEHEMOTH at their recent best. Somehow shifting away from the melodic blackened death metal the entire album embodies, they drift off into a realm of eighties-infused power metal, as if EDGUY’s Tobias Sammet had suddenly joined a CARACH ANGREN–fronted SCORPIONS tribute act. It’s undoubtedly genius, and yet unfortunately offsets the pace greatly going into the unrelentingly punishing blastbeat abomination of Transient Stranger.
Lyrically, vocalist Jorg August is on form in encapsulating his daily work in mental health within ESHTADUR’s music, forever examining and exploring the relationship between humanity and the deeper, darker sides of emotion. However, as consistent as they may be, the lyrics long to be fleshed out further to truly encapsulate the vision ESHTADUR clearly have. In fairness to them, songs like The Red Door and Lowborn Bastard are riddled with arena-ready hooks that hit you like a tonne of bricks as you find yourself singing along, so it works somewhat in their favour.
From The Abyss is ESHTADUR at their most masterful yet, delivering an album that is as ambitious as it is alluring, daring to reach heights few bands achieve in the realms of blackened death metal. Of course, it’s plagued with the pitter-patter of pacing, but there’s potential packed to the rafters here.
Rating: 8/10
From The Abyss is out now via Blood Blast.
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