Review: Tchornobog/Abyssal – Tchornobog/Abyssal

Style: Experimental death metal, experimental black metal, experimental doom metal (harsh vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Spectral Voice, Blut Aus Nord, The Ruins of Beverast, Esoctrillium
Review by: Zach (Tchornobog) and Andy (Abyssal)
Country: US – OR and United Kingdom
Release date: 25 November, 2022

Zach:

You know what I never expected to see credited as an instrument on an album? Vomiting. Yeah, I thought The Vomiting Choir was just the cool name of a song. 

It’s not. 

Markov Soraka, the insane and possibly interdimensional being behind Tchornobog, has graced us with their presence once more nearly 5 years after their debut. After relative radio silence from Markov, who’s other projects seemed to be their areas of focus for quite a while now, I was content with not seeing a new Tchornobog album for a while. Markov was clearly busy scouring the desolate plains in search of a worthy tribute to the great Tchornobog, and that was gonna take a while considering how good their debut was. How I longed for another album that messed with the OSDM formula this much and had an atmosphere that felt truly eldritch. As it turns out, I would just have to wait a little while longer. 

The Vomiting Choir is Tchornobog’s longest, and it certainly scratches the itch that their debut gave me so long ago. In these 24 minutes, I was plunged straight back into the abyss, baptized in the filth that permeates every inch of a song with this kind of title. This thing moves forward with the force of the world’s largest slug, every riff vomiting (heh) forth straight from an abyssal (heh) blackness that only Tchornobog can conjure up. And yes, there is an actual vomiting choir on this song. 

The opening of this track tells you all you need to know. Yes, the saxophone is back and sounds as horrific as ever. And like the debut, it pulls you straight in right after listening to the sounds of a bunch of people vomiting for a minute or two. The Vomiting Choir is absolutely relentless, giving riff after riff before going into an extended doom metal section for the remainder of the song. Markov gets all their death metal urges out right at the beginning, and I think that’s the only place this track falls a little short. I wanted to hear a bit more death-y Tchornobog, but that just may be the bias talking. Overall, though, a worthy track that continues to cement Tchornobog as one of the best at their craft, whatever the hell they’re playing. 

Final verdict: 8/10

Andy:

…and I get the other half of the split! Abyssal’s previous album, A Beacon in the Husk, is a filthy yet supremely pensive take on death metal. G.D.C. of Abyssal clearly birthed Beacon during an existential nightmare, and dissonant, cavernous death metal melds into doomier and blackened segments all fighting for a stranglehold on your throat. The murky production feels like the dissolution of the ego as the album swallows the listener whole. In cacophonous, shifting walls of sound, Abyssal forged a unique identity as slightly more approachable than the angular harshness of Portal but less agreeable to normal ears than the dissonant, technical wizardry of Ulcerate. 

“Antechamber of the Wakeless Mind” extricates me from the appeal of Abyssal by drowning every instrument in more reverb than even Beacon did: This new deep dive into a less distinct, homogenized palette where everything melds into a singular drone dramatically takes away from their overall sound. Where in Abyssal’s albums of yesteryear, picking pieces of deconstructed melody out of the abyss was part of the appeal, now I just feel like I’m slowly getting soaked rather than struggling for my life against dark ocean water. I want thalassophobic dissonance to overwhelm me, not to inconvenience me from enjoying the minutiae of the final product.

The slow burning start is fine, though unspectacular; I don’t have a problem with funereal gurgles and long build-ups like some of my peers, but even the transition out of it into more urgent death metal is lackluster compared to what I’d hoped. Once we reach the more action-filled death metal, my enjoyment is similar to wearing wet socks. The production stifles anything and everything except for occasional lead guitar crescendos or solos like at 6:30 or 19:00. But apart from the momentary leads, the guitars and vocals were possibly recorded underwater; simultaneously, the drums were recorded somewhere next door–they feel detached. All intensity suffers by the production, and the disconcerting lack of excellent flow also takes away from much enjoyment. We have a classic case of lots of ideas haphazardly stitched together in a lengthy song that’s more bloated than it ought to be. When choral chants and lead guitars surface from the swampwater, I find the track to be an interesting experimental death metal opus on par with Tchornobog, but in the portions waiting between, I just want “Antechamber of the Wakeless Mind” to end. 

I’m glad my friend Zach enjoyed the Tchornobog side more than I liked Abyssal’s, but I miss the feeling of treading water in a stormy sea at night more than I like whatever this production does to this track.

Final verdict: 5/10

Recommended tracks: The Vomiting Choir
You may also like: Elysian Blaze, Altarage, Portal, Qrixkuor
Overall EP verdict: 6.5/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook | Instagram | Metal-Archives page

Label: Profound Lore/Prophecy Productions

Abyssal is:
– G.D.C. (everything)
Tchornobog is:
– Markov Soroka (everything)