Review Summary: Killing fields fertile with ashes from the pyre
Although black metal has had a handful of bands break out into debatable mainstream success, if only due to the controversies surrounding the both legendary and infamous Norwegian scene of the 90's, war metal hasn't been afforded that luxury. It's fairly easy to see why: its cacophonius, intense sound is, by design, as un-mainstream as possible. Despite this, the sub-subgenre (having descended from blackened death metal) is home to bands that house some of the ideals that black metal itself was built upon quite well, especially the genre's quest to be as evil as possible (which it occasionally accomplishes better than the parent genre itself), and New Orleans war metal trio
Abysmal Lord does one of the finest jobs in presenting themselves this way musically.
One of the first things that sticks out about the album, even from the minute-and-a-half ambient/industrial-sounding intro, is how grim the sound is. Not a glimmer of hope is to be found amongst the album's ten tracks, with each one following said intro displaying absolutely pummeling riffs from guitarist/vocalist Matthew Clark, a snare that sounds like drummer Jeremy Berry used a light machine gun instead of an actual drum kit (much like war metal comrades Axis of Advance), heavy basslines probably plucked straight from the depths of Belzebub's lair by Grant Tom, and roars galore from Clark, it's not a stretch to say that
Exaltation of the Infernal Cabal is perhaps one of the most menacing albums ever recorded sound-wise. Plenty of the instrumentals are strong enough to stand solo as well, with the first real song "Monolith of Vengeance" smacking you right out of the gate with Tom bringing out one of the most extreme plucks of any guitar put to tape as Clark warns of the "destruction of the false paradise" by Satan's forces. Other standout instrumentals include "Scythe of Damnation" giving an absolute knockout punch of a blast beat while Clark appears to be possessed by the devil, throwing out Old Nick's roar from his own larynx, "Holy Incest" (which is as awkward as it sounds) being
the soundtrack to a marriage officiated by demons, while "Nuclear Absolution" sounds like someone tossed early Darkthrone into a pit of toxic waste and watched them fuse into a monstrosity that puts even the darkest of Halloween trite to shame.
Unfortunately, what keeps
Exaltation of the Infernal Cabal, and Abysmal Lord themselves, from reaching higher, is two things: the first is the lack of lyrical depth. Each song covers Satanism, darkness, warfare, or a combination of all three, with the exception of the aforementioned "Holy Incest", which is about...well, exactly what you would expect, and the intro track (which is entirely instrumental). The other primary issue is that as the album goes on, everything starts to blend in with each other; while stuff like "Preparing the Throne" would sound great alone, placing it close to songs like "Scourge of Christ" just makes the band's reliance on formula more glaring. The production is standard, muddy war metal production; nothing to scoff at, but for the genre we're talking about, it's serviceable. Despite this,
Exaltation of the Infernal Cabal succeeds more often then it doesn't, and is well worth your time if you're looking for an aggressive slice of blackened death.
