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Originally formed in 1993 and just recently reunited, Mexico's Thy Only Forgotten present their first full-length album. The band has among its ranks some former and present members of The Chasm, including The Chasm mainman Daniel Corchado. You can tell without knowing, because there are quite a few things in here that are reminiscent of The Chasm, though without sounding like a clone – far from that. I'd be tempted to throw this in the Doom/Death category, but that's not quite it. The album does have a doomy vibe, but the atmosphere has more of a dark, evil-yet-filled with despair feel to it – it's more Black Metal in essence than it is Doom.

The album is mostly slow to mid-paced, though it does speed up occasionally. "Of Eternal Tolls" is the fastest, most "Death Metal" song on here, while the others are more restrained, but what they don't have in speed, they more than make up for in sheer heaviness – and it's not always the music that's easy, but rather the omnipresent atmosphere that's purely and simply crushing, making you feel like you have the weight of the world on your shoulders and pounding you on the head as a bonus. The music is incredibly melodic – in a good, dark and damning way, and it's all at the basis of the aforementioned atmosphere. This is not fast Black/Death based on brutality and speed, but rather a heavy, blackened melodic Death Metal (absolutely nothing to do with the Gothenburg stuff – that goes without saying.) While the former will make you thrash and slam into walls, the latter will crush you to the ground and keep pounding until you're nothing but dust.

The vocals are low growls for the most part, and fitting with the atmosphere they are quite filled with despair and haunting as fuck – you can hear some similarities with the vocal style used by The Chasm, but just like the music, it's inspired by, rather than identical. There are some clean vocals that thankfully do not screw up the experience here – they sound as lost, desperate and haunting as the growls. Top notch stuff right here.

This is up there in the best releases of 2009. Lux Inframundis may not be the most prolific label around, but with this and The Chasm, they sure got the right stuff. Fans of The Chasm are likely to find this to their liking – in fact, just about anyone feeling like a little journey in the depths of hell will get a kick out of this.