Absentia Terra presents itself as a swamp of all things sinister from Brisbane doom/sludge/post outfit CHASSM.
CHASSM are a forward thinking post-metal duo, who balance progressive compositions with bleak, creative riff work drawing from post-rock, sludge, doom, and black metal. At times, the crust-ridden tone draws similarities to Fall of Efrafa and His Hero Is Gone. Yet in the same breath, listeners are hurled into blasting segments in a style akin to a gruesome, sludgier version Deafheaven or Russian Circles. Some might even detect an echo of early Mastodon’s progressive murk.
“This might sound ridiculous but CHASSM is me trying to invent a new emo music that isn’t fucking lame,” begins Guitarist/vocalist Elijah Lee. “It’s inspired by everything in my life or the world that is too heavy. Things that I struggle to grasp or understand, things that make me depressed, things that I wish wouldn’t happen because of the overbearing negativity said thing can cause in people’s lives. Sonically – we are a post everything band. ‘Doom meets black and post metal meets 2000s metalcore’ according to the online reviews – that kind of sums it up.”
As the first single from Falling Forever, Absentia Terra presents itself as a swamp of all things sinister. Fuzzed out tones, crusty, militant drumming and crushing low end stick in the ear like thick tar before the song rips into a blackened field of pulverising shredding. The transition from bleak to black is seamless – speaking volumes about the band’s talents, along with Lee’s ear for composition and flow.
“This song was one of the first written for the LP,” says Lee. “It’s nice and long – around 8 minutes and 30 seconds – which is very reflective of our roots. We’ve always strived to write and play long songs with complex structures and this song is Chassm to the core in that sense. Absentia Terra is about the past and present on our Earth. It represents the blooming periods of life and the chaotic periods of desolation and lifelessness. More specifically, this song is a pretty standard, juvenile, nihilistic dig at humanity and how we’ve gotten too big for our boots.”
In many ways, Falling Forever is a love-letter to some of the greatest metal of the past decade, scratching an itch that some might not have felt since picking up their first crust punk or black metal record many moons ago.
CHASSM successfully capture the fire and feeling of metal from the past three decades, adding a flicker of inventiveness which contemporary acts all too often fail to ignite. And others are taking note. Though the band is young, they’ve already supported a number of heavyweight international acts, including Sasquatch, Bongzilla, Yawning Man and Crowbar.
For us at Art As Catharsis, CHASSM represent nothing less than the most exciting heavy act to come out of the Australian underground in many years.
CHASSM’s first single, Absentia Terra, is available for streaming now. Their debut LP, Falling Forever, releases on June 24 via Bandcamp.
