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CH’ AHOM “Anthropic Rites Of Sublimation”
CH’ AHOM “Anthropic Rites Of Sublimation”
By Dr. Abner Mality
Meso-American culture and mythology has been cropping up more and more in death metal recently. It makes sense when you think about it…those cultures were full of monsters, vengeful gods and blood sacrifices…enough to make the average Viking reconsider how tough he really is.
CH’AHOM is the latest band to jump on the Pre-Columbian bandwagon, even though they are from Germany. Their second album is out on 20 Buck Spin and that’s usually a pretty good indicator of a quality band. For an album with such a long title, “Anthropic Rites Of Sublimation” is pretty brief, with only 5 tracks, one of which is a 10 minute epic. They surely do not treat the Meso-American stuff lightly…every track here weaves in tribal sound and authentic Mayan/Olmec/Aztec instruments. How much you like the album might be dependent on your tolerance for those sounds.
Other than the native soundscapes, this can be described as cavernous death metal on the faster side of the altar. A very echoey sound is here throughout, particularly with A.G.A.’s roaring vocals. It does add an eeriness to the proceedings. It’s bonecrushing stuff. The lyrical concept is something about four separate cultures surrounding a giant pit which leads to annihilation and how they all sacrifice to it in their own way. I don’t know if there’s a sense of humor in the band, but when I see song titles like “Priests of Lik’in” and “Chosen of Chik’in”, I was waiting for one called “Souls of Phinger’...
Lovers of death metal that sounds like it was recorded in the Carlsbad Caverns should like CH’AHOM just fine. If you like Pre-Columbian instrumentation, add some extra points.
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