Trance of the Undead – Chalice of Disease (Dismal Dungeon Black Metal)

 

Check that crud art; black Sharpie covering a white piece of paper. Limited skill, limited shape, it’s like looking into a dark cave and allowing your eyes to adjust, but still too dark to really make out the image. And musically, ahhhh, Brazil’s Trance of the Undead is a comparable force of similar aesthetic. A lonely, rejected soul, this one-man dungeon fumes are the stuff of soon-to-be legend. It’s like practically what I thought all of that stuff would sound like but never did. Chalice of Disease is noteworthy for its genre-defining sound. This, folks, is what dungeon black metal should exude.

   

Aw man, you know there’s a reason Iron Bonehead picks something obscure up before you spin it and this, wow. Trance of the Undead creates an absolutely dismal atmosphere. The guitars and bass pulse with a bizarre, electric dissonance like an outdated keyboard, the drums drip in webbing saturated with dew, and the vocals are more like gaseous sounds of a corpse mid-rot, echoing from a vault, than human. Typically, this type of approach wears the listener down in a single track because the “aesthetic” is merely a cover for lack of skill, but Trance of the Undead manages to create a unique presence for every moment in Chalice of Disease because he has a firm grasp of the sound. Perfect for the coming fall months when all must die and soon freeze over, or just to terrorize provincials. You will buy.

 

Trance of the Undead Official Bandcamp

Written by Stanley, Devourer of Souls

Trance of the Undead – Chalice of Disease
Iron Bonehead Productions
Cover Art: Old Coffin Spirit
4.8 / 5