We are extremely happy to announce that the new dawn of Ch'ahom is upon us. The German ritualistic black/death metal horde give us a taste of what will materialize on a full scale with their imminent debut album. The single-song "Ts'ono'ot" EP here presented is a colossal twelve minute death-ritual materialized from the same recording sessions of their aforementioned forthcoming debut full-length LP, and is the first real glimpse into the band's new and future shape to come, crystallized as apocalyptic omen via limited edition cassette presentation.
Leading up to its July 7 2023 official release on cassette tape and digital formats, the single-track twelve minute "Ts'ono'ot" EP has been premiered in full by CVLT Nation, with the illustrious underground music blog explaining that “the raw, lo-fi bestial metal-borderlining-on-noise chaos we’ve seen from the band so far is out the window entirely (or almost), replaced by a massive, thick and crystal clear production putting on full display a band at the top of their game and armed with an insane arsenal of destructiveness and inventive.” - you can read the full feature and check out the full stream HERE.
Indeed, completing the metamorphosis from their Von, Sadogoat, Beherit, and Blasphemy-influenced, noise-bordering raw bestial metal beginnings and groundwork, the behemoth track reveals Ch’ahom transfigured into a shapeshifting new mortal ritual weapon of absolute death. New presages are re-worked into the band's new multilayered canvas and into a newfound clearer and outward projecting sound, weaponized with a sophistication, complexity and unpredictability sourced from transformative early psych/prog-infused technical death metal bands like Demilich and Time Ghoul. The band's peculiar and parallel fascination with the golden era of UK 70's prog and particularly with bands like Camel, Yes, and Genesis has done the rest, setting the band's songwriting on a trajectory of inexorable and masterful intricacy, materializing in the end twelve monstrous and bludgeoning minutes of transmuted and kaleidoscopic progressive bestial death metal triumph. Yet, this is nothing but the beginning...
The origins of obscure German black/death metal cult Ch'ahom can be traced as far back as 2016, when the band begun issuing a steady string of cryptic demo tapes in the German underground, up until 2021. During this time frame the band had displayed a blown out, raw and feral sound clearly worshipping bands like Von, Sadomator, Sadogoat, Beherit and other similar primitive black/death gods. These demos captured the eye of Sentient Ruin who made contact with the band right when a change in their sound and songwriting was happening and the ground for a glorious and genre-defying debut album was being prepared. Perfect timing. While the tracks from all these earlier demos were later remastered by Sentient Ruin for a 2023 cassette tape restropective compilation titled “Camazotz Cult“, the once simple, short and fast songs from the band’s early days are now giving way to new compositions stretching out into atmospheric lengths and being punctuated and exalted by the unique technicality, atmospheres and more slowed down paces reminiscent of iconic US and Finish Death Metal bands like Morbid Angel, Infester, Demilich, and Abhorrence, creating a masterful symbiosis between the animalistic violence from their origins and the band’s newfound sense of atmosphere and evocative musical storytelling. Far from ending there, in recent times Ch'ahom's music has begun showcasing also marked prog influences derived from the band's appreciation of 70's English bands like Yes and Camel. This multilayered evolution is now creating a sound appearing vast, relentless, and frenzy-like, almost bordering on insanity, as showcased on their 2023 debut EP “Ts'ono'ot”, a glorious, ten-minute single track prelude to the majestic carnage lurking ahead later in the year with the advent of their official debut full-length album for Sentient Ruin,“Knots of Abhorrence”. This outreach toward more complex and unpredictable composition is completed and complemented by the band's long running theme and subject matter, offering a glimpse into a parallel dimension beyond the purely musical material itself: lyrical themes, concepts, and aesthetics dealing with different prehispanic cultures, their rituals and their art. With their music dowsed in magick, blood, and violence, Ch'ahom try to establish a connection to a subconscious horror we all face in our lives, still to this day, that has been a driving force behind many mythical and mystical traditions that have originated throughout the centuries all around the globe. The accumulation of these influences make this Essen, Germany-based horde a far more complex and thought-provoking entity than the average goat-worshipping black/death band most of us are used to being accustomed with. Ch'ahom are a nightmare simulation, a terror emanating from deep below, screaming from the caverns in the earth in which humanity has hid for centuries from the powers beyond our rational understanding, emanating from the crevices in our super-ego that reveal a direct pathway to the urges we repress. Ch'ahom are the opposite of meditation, an endless onslaught of thoughts, wishes, dreams, fears, impossible to shut out, an overwhelming and maddening samsara.
The single-song "Ts'ono'ot" EP is slated for a July 7 2023 release on limited edition cassette tape and digital formats worldwide via Sentient Ruin.