Gates into Pristine Abyss

Tsathogguath is an one-man band which comes from Russia and its only member is Monork that we had got to know him by the other bands that he is involved in, Hisstönend and Trou Noir. So, the band exists since 2013 and during 2014 it released both its first full length album in March and a split album a while later. Here we have their full length album which is called Gates into Pristine Abyss and it was released by Eerie Torture in a limited number of copies (100). The album contains two introductions, a cover of the song of Xasthur, Sigils Made of Flesh and Trees, and five of their own compositions of overall duration of forty six minutes. The music of Monork in every one of his projects is characterized by an esoteric approach. That applies here too but with the difference that with Tsathogguath wants to express his more melancholic-depressing sentiments and that can be easily be perceived by the cover he chose to do.

After the introduction which hasn’t got much to offer to the listener, the first track with the title Summon the Burning Drift begins that it may be one of the worst tracks I have ever listened to. It is consisted of absolutely uninspired and with nothing interesting riffs, out of rhythm, full of mistakes drum machine and huge duration with a very bad structure. So by starting like that I was completely disappointed for the following tracks that the album had to present. Fortunately though, by the second track things are getting better a lot. The riffs are long and chaotic but they become both meaningful and interesting. The feelings that the creator wants to express are beginning to take shape and to get somehow closer to the listener. As also in the other bands of Monork, the riffs are not characterized by their technic but by the intense feelings, images and atmosphere that they manage to create. Well, in here too, the riffs achieve to express these depressing feelings which dominate the creator during the writing process. The tracks structure is somewhat monotonous and their duration quite long, something that makes them quite tedious in some parts.

Regarding the sound, the band has done a very good job. The production is clean and bass, it puts out a sweet, warm but at the same time hypnotizing sound which fits to the style of the compositions and it adds that hypnotic character to the compositions. The mixture is balanced without having anything special. The guitars have a hypnotic tone, although they are not distinguished by their technic, they manage with their weird style to deliver the feelings and the atmospheres quite well. The bass is audible, it is accompanying nicely the guitars and it gives that warm and familiar characteristic to the compositions while its lines are quite simple and mainly they are following the guitars. The drums must come from a drum machine although it is not mentioned anywhere in the cd. Their lines are mediocre as in a lot of parts they sound wrong concerning the rhythm, while their sound is natural and it is not annoying. A guest musician is responsible for the vocals as also for the lyrics. The vocals are harsh Black Metal vocals somewhat distant but quite expressive. The lyrics are written in English and they are not contained in the cd.

In conclusion, I think that the first work of Tsathogguath didn’t satisfy me. It had some ideas that caught my eye and made me pay attention to the composition, but in overall aspect it didn’t achieve to give whet it wanted to. There are a lot of mistakes concerning the drum machine and the good ideas are lost inside the long duration of the tracks and the monotonous structure. Generally it is an album that if it had been worked more, it would have much more to offer to the listener and regarding the quality it would have been in a much higher level. I suggest you to avoid this album. The next one will show if we will deal again with Tsathogguath.