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Album Review: Chthonic Deity Assembled In Pain


Lately it seems like every day, another old school death metal band claws out of the underground with the ravenous intent of an undead horde.

 The latest band of this ilk is Chthonic Deity. These maniacs live up to the subterranean aspect of their name, and deliver a dank dose of death from the darkest depths of Colorado in their debut EP, Assembled In Pain. This one is a decidedly primitive approach. The chainsaw guitars drip with a rich, wet tone, and it imparts a really slimy texture to the overall production.

 Assembled In Pain boasts of a massive low end presence, with a rich distorted bass driving its ghoulish atmosphere. The guitar tones cuts through like the slimy tendrils of a Lovecraftian behemoth summoned from the underworld. The drum work rumbles with a combination of double bass kicks and thrash rhythms, a bit reminiscent of Chris Reifert's work in Autopsy. Blast beats are scarce, but they emphasize the bombardment like a drill to the dead when they are selectively unleashed.

 "Drained" kicks off the album with a shuffling storm of riffs, a cross between early Cannibal Corpse and Nihilist (pre-Entombed). The last track, "Blood Ritual" is both the longest and the slowest, with what sounds like a bass solo closing out the grinding guitar chugs. 

The vocals trade off between screams and raspy growls. Generous reverb gives the effect of the voices swirling from the abyss in a whirlwind of ancient spells. 

 This one features a few familiar names from the west coast death metal resurgence in its personnel, namely Erika Osterhout and Charles Koryn from Scolex and Ascended Dead, along with Paul Reidl of Blood Incantation, and mixing courtesy of Greg Wilkinson from Deathgrave and Brainoil.

This EP stands out  from its contemporaries with its stripped down style. The song writing keeps it in the pocket, and riffs are dealt out in groovy repetitions.

My main criticisms of Assembled In Pain is that it's not a terribly innovative album, and it's short, at only four songs. But with this dream team of extreme metal heads at the helm of this project, Chthonic Deity's future is sure to be grisly and filled with horrors. 

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