Chiral - Abisso (2015)

  "Abisso" was basically Chiral's second demo record from 2014, that also had a limited CD release one year after with two extra songs, that extended the demo to decent full-length duration. And it was definitely worth to make such a release, since the demo was in various ways pretty interesting.
   A wide range of influences could be discovered in Chiral's music, that was in this current state the mix of atmospheric black metal and black/doom. The latest always counts as something extraordinary to find, partly because black/doom is quite rare in general, and also the two styles aren't too easy to combine. Therefore not many can manage to create something enjoyable and impressive out of them. In case of Chiral the black/doom features were a consequence of experimenting, that came from atmospheric approach. This is usually not really supporting the heavier sound that doom metal themes might require, but the atmospheric sound and effects are also including epic elements, that are strongly related to classic doom metal. The sound still didn't become as heavy as it supposed to be, but the thick, misty melancholic atmosphere worked out pretty well with the slow themes. In the two longest songs of the record this solution was well applied. In the rest of the songs drastic switches from soft melodies to intensity are common. This might remind to some death/doom classics of the early '90s, cause the way of experimenting was somewhat similar at the heralds of the subgenre. It's another question how intentional the whole thing was from Chiral, but the results were exciting indeed. The involvement of doom features opened further depths for the atmospheric blackened melancholy, and made the album more diverse than what could be expected in this style. Strongly recommended for the fans of atmospheric black metal and blackened doom.