ALBUM REVIEW: Secrypts Of The Egochasm – Vaelmyst

Having released a couple of singles and a well-received EP, it was only a matter of time before VAELMYST finally turned their sights to something more ambitious. Secrypts Of The Egochasm, their first full-length album, lives up to the expectation set by its promising predecessors, showcasing a band already confident and well-versed in their own sound. The slackened riffs that kick off spiralling opener Espirit De Corps set the stage for a compelling album that finds a perfectly maintained balance between aggression and melody.

Where Secrypts Of The Egochasm excels most is its fusion of different peripheral death metal influences, while still maintaining a solid vision. There are moments of sludgy, groove-laden riffs reminiscent of THE HAUNTED’s slower moments, counterbalanced by the melodic sensibilities, disarmingly tuneful guitar leads and thrashier speeds of something like KALMAH. Tracks like Dawnless epitomise this duality, bouncing between blackened, saw-blade like tremolo leads before being interrupted by a mountainous dirge of a rhythm riff.

VAELMYST are able to shift gears from relatively loose, dirty rhythms to tight melodeath picking without batting an eyelid – all the while, keeping listeners on their toes. Take Spineless Throne, for instance. Starting with a head-on assault of lightning fast thrashery, it initially feels like it may be a more straight ahead, all-out extreme metal number. However, it doesn’t take long for VAELMYST to defy expectation. As if it was a completely natural progression, the band slides in to an almost jazzy middle section, where a shuffling bassline is built upon by increasingly intense musicianship, from guitar leads to guttural roars and culminating in blast-beat pummelling. VAELMYST’s willingness to experiment never strays in to prog-like exercises in genre bending however; rather, there is a subtlety to the musical shifts on Secrypts Of The Egochasm that will keep the audience guessing.

Every moment of Secrypts Of The Egochasm’s 41 minutes feels vital, making it difficult to single out particular highlights. However, it’s the record’s second half where VAELMYST truly turn things up a notch, such as on Ghoulish Delight. The domineeringly heavy groove riff that provides the track its backbone wouldn’t be out of place on very early ARCH ENEMY records, and gives the song a menacing hook to always come back to after extended instrumental interludes.

Into The Egochasm on the other hand is an exceptionally restrained instrumental interlude, its windy atmospherics and haunting arpeggios providing a bedding for lilting guitar leads to drift over. Its ominous serenity is washed away by the cataclysmic album closer, The Coin Of This Realm. Acting as a suitable culmination of all that came before it – fiery riffs, occasional stripped-back intermissions counterpointed by blast beats and a never-ending sense of ferocity – the longer opus acts both as a neat summation of the rest of the album, and a preview of where the band could go next.

With Secrypts Of The Egochasm, VAELMYST have produced a remarkably assured debut full-length that, while clearly inspired by formative acts of the past, revitalises many tropes of the genre. Secrypts Of The Egochasm is a masterful exercise in finding the harmony within extreme music and is an exciting chapter in what is hopefully many.

Rating: 8/10

Secrypts Of The Egochasm is set for release on August 13th via self-release.

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