Artist: Unapproachable Light
Country: USA
Label: Nuclear War Now! Productions
Formats: Demo Tape
Year: 2025
Unapproachable Light sprung from the mind of Tom “Obscurum” Kapsalis, who used to be one of the impetuses of Cult Of Daath, one of the most overlooked and underappreciated American Black/Death Metal bands ever. The current whereabouts of Cult Of Daath are unknown, the last thing we’ve ever heard of them was the ‘Doomed By The Witch’-demo tape, released back in 2010 by Nuclear War Now! Productions. Whether this band died a slow death or is just in some sort of hibernation, is unclear, but at least it gave Obscurum some time and space to think. And apparently, this new one-man project is the result.
Cult Of Daath has always been a strong force in “keeping it real”. Their take on Black Metal has been firmly rooted in the most primitive steps of the genre, still with a powerful Death Metal tone to most of the songs. Clearly not aimed at speed, melody or some sort of sophistication, Cult Of Daath was the embodiment of ugly Black Metal. That earned the band its place alongside such acts as Nunslaughter, Demoncy, Burning Winds and Profanatica when it comes to the early American evil metal.
Unapproachable Light is more or less built on the same cornerstones. A lot of what made Cult Of Daath so appealing is also to be found in the sound of Obscurum’s newest brainchild. Under the bonnet, Unapproachable Light is almost as primitive, at least in terms of the stuttering drums and equally awkward transitions. Vocally, too, it sounds rather unsubtle, with the hoarse caveman roar taking the lead.
Yet, as a whole, Unapproachable Light is very much a Black Metal band, dropping all the meatier Death Metal parts. A sharper sound in the guitars is clear evidence of this, but that may not even be the most striking thing. The use of some searing melodies and slower, almost dragging pieces and semi-clean sermon-like vocals firmly pull the whole thing into Black Metal waters. ‘Mesmerized By The Unknown’ seems inspired by European Black Metal from the early to mid-90’s, with Darkthrone being the most obvious one – or at least, that’s what I’m making out of it. The last track features a very slow and dissonant riff that goes extremely well with the aforementioned sermon vocals, making a comparison with Mayhem not entirely unjustified.
To cut things short: ‘Mesmerized By The Unknown’ is a very solid debut demo. Obscurum’s penchant for the more occult and obscure sounding Black Metal hasn’t died off during the fifteen year hiatus of Cult Of Daath. I tend to believe that “life” happened to him and I just hope he’s back with us for some new music. And hopefully not only for Unapproachable Light, I am very keen on a new sign of life of Cult Of Daath as well.
