Despite this being quite an underground death metal album, I really can't even guess at how many times I've played it. I was lucky enough to purchase it shortly after it came out and ever since then it's ranked among my favorites. It is not only brutally heavy in a dense, claustrophobic sense, but it also carries a doomy, unsettling feel boosted by a low budget but perfectly appropriate sound job. Cenotaph was one of Mexico's first true death metal outfits, and along with Shub Niggurath and Mortuary, one of the best. The band would move into a more melodic, almost black metal direction later on, but this album is pure, molten death metal, full of occult vibe and depressive atmosphere. That's not to say it lacks aggression, because it's brutal indeed. It's simply that its morbid tone is its most memorable component. The songs swing from speedy, dense sections to creeping, slithering doom, not unlike early Incantation, but gloomier. Daniel Corchado, who would also briefly perform with Incantation and later lead The Chasm, makes a great name for himself here with both his writing and his deep, spectral vocals. Mexico's finest death metal album? Possibly, although Shub Niggurath's Evilness and Darkness Prevails would be a close second, surely. Either way, this is essential for all death metal fans, especially those with any sort of affection for cult classics.
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