Baron's brand of death metal also consists of a lot of doom metal and even some hardcore elements. It's got a lot of variety, something that isn't often found in music this dark and heavy. And heavy it is. The band manages to create songs that are huge walls of sound yet they sound distinctive enough from each other that it doesn't become background noise.
The variety that I mentioned before certainly helps with this. The seven songs contained within the album's 44 minute rune time don't stick to just one tempo or style. There will be a doom passage that is followed by fast as fuck death metal, that in of itself may be preceded by a hardcore style passage of unbridled rage and energy.
The production and mix is mostly on point. It's loud, but not overly, and the vibrancy of the instruments is brought to life pretty well. I think it could use another layer of grime on top of it but it's not so much of an issue. The important thing is the albums sounds as massive as the songwriting.
The album opens with "Primordial Possession," and its short build up to lumbering riffs and beefy drums/bass. The guitars throw out riffs wholesale and each one crushes. The mid-paced tempo combines death and doom together without going too far into either side. The song speeds up and slows down until the half way mark where riff after riff just slams over and over. Truly brutal and uncompromising.
"At The Dawn Of Damnation," begins with wild lead guitar throwing out crazy as the bass drums pounds the atmosphere into dust. The song quickly settles into a slow, swampy dirge that is horrific as it is heavy. This is one of the more dismal songs, at least in the beginning, but the faster paced death metal isn't hard behind. Like a body throw into a grinder, the song chews and destroys as it blazes through to reach another slower, atmospheric point and it's in moments like this where the band really finds their stride.
We then come to my favorite song on the album, "Bound To The Funeral Pyres." The deep, clean tones begin the song before sweltering guitars lays across the atmosphere, engaging and suffocating all at once (which is a great way to describe the album too). The vocals are vicious and pair up with the rhythm like a well oiled death machine. The whole song is like a one giant bruise, that grows as the blood flows underneath the skin.
The final song, "Swallowed By Fires Beneath," is a disturbing and atmospheric instrumental with drone elements. It may not offer the same crushing tones of the previous songs but it's just as heavy in its own way.
Baron's "Beneath The Blazing Abyss," is sterling example of the power of extreme metal and a expert representation of how to combine different styles and tones into one huge wall of sound that remains distinctive throughout. I don't give number reviews but if I did, this would get a 9.
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