Album Review: Abyssery - Interminable End
Reviewed by Sam Jones
Part of the fun with checking out upcoming records is in discovering new bands; Ireland’s Abyssery is one of them. A nation not foremost renowned for its extreme metal, Abyssery enter the arena with their first full length work: Interminable End. The band formed in 2023 out of Dublin and within a year had already begun releasing Singles in the run up to this record’s unveiling. Now primed for a July 25th release date and entirely via independent means, Abyssery aim to use this opportunity to spread their name amongst the wider world. Curiously, Abyssery comprises just two members: James Stewart on the drums whilst Brian Doherty commands everything else from Guitars to Bass to Vocals etc. Championing stellar artwork by US artist Adam Burke, a portfolio spanning Abscession, Jade, Gatecreeper, Unto Others amidst many more, Interminable End seems poised to be one ripping work of extreme metal.
Once in a while you encounter a record where the band in question employ a far cleaner production than many will be expecting. If you were thinking Abyssery’s first album would this dirty, slime-ridden beast, the band had different ideas in mind. With an opening instrumental the band lay the law down right away that though there is strength bounded up in droves herein, the production is smooth, sweet, the record will be no difficulty in enjoying. We've had cleaner tones before but Interminable End is effectively a stained glass window where there isn’t a speck of fluff etched across its framing; every single minute element the band poured into their songwriting is on show for you to take in whether it be the guttural aftermath of the vocals or the smallest tings of the cymbals. In addition, this is a record you want to crank to the maximum volume owing to the totality of power thrown at you. Due to the soundscape such a clean production provides it enables Abyssery to get the most effect out of even the smallest turns or licks their playing emanates. There is nothing to mar, nothing to hinder your receiving the full measure of Abyssery’s mania.
But we mustn't believe Abyssery ride the favours of a clean production alone for their songwriting becomes downright volatile. It’s clear these guys are adept playing at speed, but there’s playing fast and then using speed to drive the momentum of your work to escalating frenzy. Interminable End doesn’t waste time in getting you on board for there are sequences that had me raising eyebrows and sitting back in my chair to absorb the full ferocity of Abyssery’s performance. The cleaner production allows the efforts behind the mix to manifest with greater clarity, for the band’s collective input comes together in these ecstatic furies that will leave you feeling windswept at the sheer speed these guys are able to play with. At times it’ll feel like barely controlled chaos, the tips of your fingers hardly clinging on, yet they give you just enough surface area where you can recognise where you are and where they’re taking you. Given their arsenal includes, and is hardly limited to, whammy bars, blast beats, more crushing riff phases etc the fact that we can still comprehend our surroundings with lucid understanding is impressive. Its as if their we’re ever on the cusp of leaving the eye of the storm, Abyssery’s frantic gluttony for death waiting.
I respect the band’s wish to place another instrumental interlude halfway through the album. What seemed, at the beginning, to be another opening track to ease us in becomes a methodically positioned piece that serves, effectively, to bookend Interminable End, whilst “Liminal Prison” serves as the breather piece, granting us respite though not without imbuing the band’s sound with something haphazard, warped. Rather than just throw a bunch of tracks at a record and call it a day, it gives audiences the cue that we really should be listening keenly for there’s been clear thought and pre-planning thrust at this work. Rather than just make an album, Abyssery look upon Interminable End as a legitimate product, a piece of art, that they seek to share with the wider masses and thus, to gain as rapid and favourable an advantage over their contemporaries, they saw to it their record was structurally organised, tidied and ready to be shipped out for battle. It serves to remind us records can viewed as just another release by a band but, for Abyssery, seeking to establish themselves, repudiating caricatures of quick and easy songwriting, Interminable End stands as the apex of their discography. Of course they were always going to approach its creation and writing and recording with sincere care, it's a clear labour of utmost love.
The band’s performance is massive, generating a soundscape with breadth and incredible depth, but its good to note, for a change, Abyssery couldn't be deemed as crushing. Abyssery play as if the whips crack behind them, forever maintaining staggering tempo that slows only for brief moments before escalating again. Throughout these slower phases the gravitas Abyssery conjure hardly wanes for the general aesthetic they craft carries over regardless what speed they’re currently aiming to play at. Their guitar work harnesses a sort of ethereal darkness to its chords, a product of its visceral, slicing licks that feel sharpened like the sycthe at harvest. Hearing the guitar work reach for this higher pitch, as if tearing lesions in stars to unleash some abysmal unlight, is a welcome sound against a myriad of uber-crushing records that can result in arduous listening experiences, fraught with dread come repeated listens. Interminable End is so powerful, so engaging, so commanding that you will beg to return, not simply to listen to the tracks all over again, but to be bombarded by this wall of sound. You'll be tearing the door down with bloodied, splintered hands getting back into this record.
In conclusion, i was absolutely stunned by Abyssery’s efforts here. I want the shirt, the patch, the pin, whatever they make. 2025 is shaping to be a golden year for newer bands and their first major releases; we now have Abyssery added to that growing roster. Considering this record is the effort, primarily, of just two Dublin-living men, is incredible. They do here what bands with nearly triple the members can’t do. The utter carnage this record demonstrates is offset against the astonishing calm given to yourself as you experience everything Abyssery can throw at you. Interminable End pummels you from all angles yet never does it grow suffocating to listen nor strenuous to keep pace with the band’s momentum. Here is a record that allows you to absolutely fly away with it and still maintain a coherent knowledge of the smaller intricacies the band inject, a feat made possible due to the care-applied polish the mix oozes. I loved this record, i truly did. It's why Abyssery need to be a band on people’s radars for if they can replicate this quality organically on a second and third release, they’ll be climbing the ranks of metal’s rapport in quick succession. What an amazing experience. Go to their bandcamp, buy their album, get some merch when available, these guys honestly deserve it. July 25th can’t come fast enough. I need Interminable End in my life.
