Digital releases and never playing live, Abyssal remains as dark and mysterious as its LP art. Darker, as the blackened death of third full-length Antikatastaseis indicates. “I Am the Alpha and the Omega” sets the grisly scene: furious blast beats, sweeping drill-bit riffs, and animalistic vox buried deep in the mix for maximum misunderstanding. “Telomeric Erosion” follows suit, melody breaking through the shitstorm of rhythmic quirk. Twelve-minute epics boast variety and ambition, ambient mist enveloping powerhouse crunch. Fog in a hurricane, Antikatastaseis lays waste to everything in sight while shrouded in haze.

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This article appears in August 14 • 2015.

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Michael Toland started writing about music in 1988 on the Gulf Coast, moved to Austin in early 1991, and has inflicted bylines upon the corporeal and digital pages of Pop Culture Press, The Big Takeover, Blurt, Amplifier, Austin.citysearch, the Austin American Statesman, Goldmine, Sleazegrinder, Rock & Roll Globe, High Bias, FHT Music Notes, and, since 2011, The Austin Chronicle.