Liverpool-based act Coltsblood was formed in 2010 by John McNulty shortly after he left Conan, but it took quite some time before the band showed on with material. 2013 saw the release of the demo Beyond The Lake Of Madness (self-released on tape, and done on vinyl a couple of months later on via Ulthar Records), and that very same year there was a split-EP as well, with city fellowmen of Crypt Lurker. In early Autumn 2013, the band entered the Skyhammer Studio to have their first full length recorded with producer Chris Fielding at the helm (one of the most famous producers nowadays; think: Winterfylleth, The Wounded Kings, Ageless Oblivion, Conan, Primordial etc.). The result was mastered afterwards by another ‘huge’ name, James Plotkin (who mastered stuff for bands like Alkerdeel, Khanate, Conan, A Den Of Robbers, Isis, Spiculum Iratus and many others).
Into The Unfathomable Abyss opens with a chaotic intro (Valhalla Awaits), but this miserable piece of noise sets the tone for this album quasi perfectly. It’s a well-thought introduction to Beneath Black Skies (which lasts for more than fourteen minutes), a monolithic and lo-fi Black / Doom / Sludge / Drone / Psycho-Grind epic that combines grieving melody with uneasy dissonance, and psychedelic enlightenment with abyssal obscurity. This approach goes for the majority of the compositions, but there are a couple of different moments too. Blood, for example, combines this higher mentioned approach with grinding nastiness (besides the intro, it’s the only short track with its 2:20 minutes of length). But the major part of Into The Unfathomable Abyss is of the most ominous and oppressive Doom / Sludge kind. The main tempo varies from funereally slow to droning slow, but with inclusion of more than just a hand full of thrashing speed-assaults. Besides, the sound is so foul and sordid, and the guitars and rhythm section (drums + bass lines) extremely tasty. For fans of grimy stuff in the vein of Sourvein, Dragged Into Sunlight, Horseback, Alkerdeel, Thou, Stumm, Unkind or early Unearthly Trance. Worth checking out if your brain is impaired by frenzy and madness!