Artist: Bestial Abyss / Bestial Temple
Country: USA / Mexico
Label: Self-Released
Formats: Digital Split
Year: 2025
No Nostradamus needed for this case, with such band names and the title this digital split was given, it is crystal clear what we’re dealing with. Whether or not these two bands, the first one from the USA and the second from Mexico, teamed up because of their names, is unclear, but surely they do make a good pair. Off we go…
Bestial Abyss starts the dance with their clunky but very enjoyable kind of Black/Death Metal done in the right bestial fashion. There’s a an obvious nod to both Blasphemy and Archgoat, so no interesting and original twists need to be expected. But, just like with the band’s earlier demos, these guys know what they’re doing. Bestial Black/Death Metal is not exactly rocket science, but it does take a bit of understanding of the genre as a whole to write proper tracks in this particular style. There’s some dynamics in the tempos, especially in the slower parts the love for the grinding parts of Archgoat comes to the fore, but the meaty almost Heavy Metal-like riffs are worth some praise. Otherwise, there’s just everything you need from a band with such a name and logo.
Their split partners from Mexico might share the same sort of blueprints, but serve their dish a lot rawer. So, if you’re listening this split in one go, you need to adjust a bit to the Bestial Temple tracks as they do sound thinner and overall harsher. The pounding sound of the Americans don’t do them much good on the initial encounter, but, once you’re used to their ways, you’ll hear that this too is a great band. Bestial Temple especially revels in primal energy, even more straight forward than Bestial Abyss, with a sound that has some real Punk-urgency in there that befits their faster approach seamlessly. I missed their demo from early 2025, but this definitely was a very enjoyable introduction.
