Samot - "Across the Abyss" (Unspeakable Axe Records, 2016; Ex Nihilo Music, 2017)

Band: Samot
Title: Across the Abyss
Genre: Death/Doom Metal with Black Metal melodies
Year: 20th May 2017 (Unspeakable Axe Rec)
9th April 2017 (Sentenced to Grave Prod)
13th July 2017 (Ex Nihilo Music)
Time: 14 min circa
Rating: 66/100










At the end of my review about the Occult Pantheon/Profound Grave split, I anticipated the second release by the Chilean/Canadian label Ex Nihilo Music and, finally, it is here. It is "Across the Abyss", the debut EP by Samot, originally edited on the evergreen tape format by the US Unspeakable Axe Rec but without a real cover artwork since it consisted simply of the band's logo. After that, this EP has been reissued two times during 2017: the first one on digital way thanks to the Chilean Sentenced to Grave Prod, that created an evocative bloodred cover artwork changing also the logo of Samot fulfilling it of various details like an inverted cross and a tomb; and then on the long-held CD format by, indeed, Ex Nihilo Music, resuming both the cover artwork by Sentenced to Grave (but purple-colored this time) and the original logo of Samot, and this review is based just on this last version. In brief, "Across the Abyss" is only their second release after a demo in 2015, and it has been reissued in different versions yet! But how are the rituals leaded by this Chilean duo (now a trio due to the new bassplayer Franco B.) in this EP?


Firstly, let's say that "Across the Abyss" consist of 4 tracks. Two of them are instrumentals, which are the very short and acoustic outro "Whispers" and the musical intro "Awakening", that starts slow and ends in total blasting mania. Instead, the rest is formed by "The Calling" and the titletrack, two very different episodes but both focused on a dark and Swedish death/doom metal with some crepuscular black metal melodies à la Dissection offering also a quite atmospheric use of the lead guitar but without playing guitar solos.

About "The Calling", you have to know that this is a really nice song and it makes promise a good future for Samot (at least, I hope so). Excellently structured number, it is in "The Calling" that you can hear finally the voice of the multi-instrumentalist Tomás B., that show off a boorish and gloomy growl that I like a lot, so to make the entire music in a more aggressive way. The song is divided between a first part where Samot pummels like wild men with a fast Swedish death metal assault, and a slower second part with a climax full of crepuscular tones.

The titletrack is mostly based on mid/slow tempos and it represents, surely, the most melodic number of the EP. But, for me, it is also less effective compared to "The Calling", also because I think that the blast-beats (that animate the song for a while almost at its end) should be devoloped in another and better way. Instead, they are interrupted abruptly by one of the main passages without real imagination.

Said this, Samot, helped by a good production, are satisfying for my ears especially thanks to "The Calling" but, unfortunately, it isn't enough. Sure, they know how to deliver a strong dark atmosphere also thanks to very effective growls. But, at the same, they have to improve about the structure of the songs (maybe some guitar solos could be useful but now they are totally absent in the music of the band) while I think that there was need to add another track because two instrumentals of 4 are too, also if "Awakening" is, anyway, a worthy intro.

Tracklist:

1 - Awakening
2 - The Calling
3 - Across the Abyss
4 - Whispers

Line-up:

Tomás B. - vocals/guitars/bass
Tomás P. - drums

FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/samottheband
BandCamp: http://samot.bandcamp.com/
Ex Nihilo Music: https://exnihilomusic.blog/