CH’AHOM
The origins of obscure German black/death metal cult Ch'ahom can be traced as far back as 2016, when the band spent the next five years up until 2021 issuing a steady string of cryptic demo tapes in the German underground. 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 cults. 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 had begun 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 a marked prog influence derived from the band's appreciation of 70's English bands like Yes and Camel. This multilayered syncretism of styles gave birth to a sound appearing vast, relentless, and frenzy-like, almost bordering on insanity, as showcased on their 2023 debut EP “Ts'ono'ot”, a glorious, twelve-minute single track prelude to the majestic carnage lurking ahead with the advent of their official debut full-length album for Sentient Ruin,“Knots of Abhorrence”, released later the same year in late 2023. This outreach toward more complex and unpredictable composition was 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.