The Chasm - Farseeing the Paranormal Abysm

A new vision of darkness is opened, a passage into spectral unlight is made; we behold the descent into a nefarious eternity! As is to be expected from what is one of the best current death metal acts, The Chasm has unveiled new depths of a sublimated underworld that has been the fulcrum-point of their artistic efforts in creating a sonic schema that presents the dismal, difficult and [i]dire[/i] aspects of the quintessential Journey. The new record, however, surpassed our expectations in revealing the extent of this undefined ‘underworld’, and it is the very [i]vastness[/i] of these extents that make this listen such a surreal experience on a metaphorical, thematic level.

As for the structure of the music itself, well, it actually [i]mirrors[/i] the metaphorical in forging a winding ‘path’ that does not usually turn back on itself, running ahead toward unchartered visions and promising destinations instead; but when the path [i]does[/i] turn back on itself, it offers a varying perspective of something already glimpsed at; this is both a linear as well as a cyclic album, which obviously relates to our concept that this is a musical recording of the ‘Journey experience’. To put it more metaphorically still, the guide does not rush forward needlessly, but is meticulous in showing the follower new sights that might very well have gone unnoticed in undue hastiness.
 

This is a highly instrumental album; only four of the eight tracks have vocals. What this particularly emphasizes is the fact that this is a depersonalized account of something that can be directly applied to the person (the ubiquitous Journey), and thus its universality. What is meant by this is the adverse of an attempt to convey a certain truth by means of sentimentality and what are often awkward emotions, which achieves only a relative truth at best, The Chasm manage to represent a fundamental image of reality, something that can be drawn upon by [i]any[/i] alert listener. This is possible because this is music that has escaped the confinement of the ‘musician-to-listener’ syndrome, where the music is created for superficial purposes, and in the escape finds an impersonal method of conveyance that is the proper vehicle of all true musical expression.

Shifting drastically from the general to the specific, our concern is now with how the technical elements help to support the artistic. The guitars firstly bear the brunt in the creation of an atmosphere that is pervasive and cultic at once, prevailing over the particular passage, the individual riff; secondly, they keep a masterly sense of rhythm accord, piling riff upon riff in an entirely coherent fashion. Both of these achievements help to bequeath an experiential ‘aura’ to the work, a perfectly adequate theme in which the ideas of the adventure and soul-growth can take root and spread. The vocals, or lack thereof, were already mentioned, their role [i]in absentia[/i] being an exacerbating aspect in the effect of anti-personal instrumentation. But even where the vocals [i]are[/i] installed the result is very much the same, since their low rasping technique fits very well into the overall soundscape, precisely like any other instrument would. The profound, mesmerizing lyrics themselves do nothing but assist in propounding the ideas already put forth by the more technical pieces. Although its support is essentially the same as the guitars, the percussion laid down is surprisingly helpful in its task, ever ready with a novel beat yet keeping steady with the predominant rhythm.

There are three items that especially make this such a good album. The first is its unfailing dynamism, the enforced tenacity to be everywhere at once, to shock the listener out of a passive state of mind and actually engage the presentation; the dynamics are specifically caused by the impressive percussion, though the very nature of dynamism implies the heavy involvement of all parts, naturally. The second item is Farseeing’s technical precision: from the tightness of each riff to the rampant fluidity of the drums, every instrument is exactly aligned with every other, producing the overall effect of sublime cohesion. The last item is the pristine representation of the clear and identified ideas already claimed in this review, and this is the final and highest aim of every artist, to ‘paint a picture’ that locates and crystallizes the metaphor, the Idea, the original (conscious or unconscious) intent of the artist. This is done very well on Farseeing the Paranormal Abysm; an album that is most enriched by a persistent urge to seek out the unknown, the result being a musical metaphor that is sure to entrance and pull the attentive listener through a labyrinthine underworld of dream and nightmare.