{"id":104885,"date":"2025-05-12T00:00:50","date_gmt":"2025-05-11T23:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=104885"},"modified":"2025-05-16T10:20:55","modified_gmt":"2025-05-16T09:20:55","slug":"album-review-spectral-sacrifice-transcending-the-abyss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-spectral-sacrifice-transcending-the-abyss\/","title":{"rendered":"SPECTRAL SACRIFICE – Transcending The Abyss (2025) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

SPECTRAL SACRIFICE
Transcending The Abyss<\/strong><\/span>
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\nSelf-released (2025)<\/span>
Rating: 7\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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I honestly think that alongside the word \u201cputrid\u201d, \u201cabyss\u201d is one of the most used words in the death metal genre. In this case it\u2019s relatively new Chilean band Spectral Sacrifice that has used it for their debut full-length release. Chile has produced some fantastic extreme metal over the decades, so I wondered how this one would fare.<\/p>\n

After a lengthy intro (\u2018El Eterno Retorno\u2019) you\u2019ll soon discover the many layers of this quartet through the song \u2018Metamorphic\u2019, a title which sums up the clever shifts and tempos. Essentially what you get here is death metal, but there are elements of groove throughout alongside flashes of grind and tech-death. What\u2019s interesting about the opening track is how the band can resort to a subtle, wistful passage but still spike it with a meandering solo or rasping vocal. It\u2019s technical but you\u2019re never overwhelmed by the various shades. Instead, you begin to marvel at how the band twists and turns while remaining brutal.<\/p>\n

\u2018Night Dose\u2019 is more hectic than the opener, but again there\u2019s that streaking solo work from Brandon Acosta. Vocalist Benjamin Guajardo is somewhat of an acquired taste, his style is both maniacal and spewing but he does shift into a more guttural stance. The track moves from a thrashing death to a choppiness, remaining fresh even if the music ends up clattering like an old washing machine! However, if there\u2019s one track that showcases not just the talent on display but also the hint of cheesiness then it\u2019s \u2018Shred With Style\u2019. Coming across a bit thrashy but dominated by the fantastic axe work, the only downside is Guajardo\u2019s shouts of \u201cshred with style… shred with style\u201d<\/em>. I know it\u2019s the song title, but come on dude.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere, \u2018Shades\u2019 is an interesting little ditty, as is the brief fretboard workout \u2018Overloaded\u2019 before the thrashing death of \u2018The Devil In Life\u2019. By this point though, I\u2019m more than irritated by the vocals which tend to be too distracting.<\/p>\n

Spectral Sacrifice is certainly more of a modern sounding extreme metal band, but they wouldn\u2019t have seemed out of place 20 years ago. There are elements of riff repetition on the title track, but considering how good the guitar work is in particular I\u2019m surprised that the album is short at 31 minutes. The closing namesake song, \u2018Spectral Sacrifice\u2019, is full of thrashing menace, delivered at times with juggernaut riffage and spiced with a delicate interlude that trickles through. In contrast, there is some fantastic solo work too, conjuring a more traditional metal aesthetic.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a lot of potential with Spectral Sacrifice, and the guys certainly bring something a little different to the deathly fray.<\/p>\n

Neil Arnold<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SPECTRAL SACRIFICETranscending The Abyss Self-released (2025)Rating: 7\/10 I honestly think that alongside the word \u201cputrid\u201d, \u201cabyss\u201d is one of the most used words in the death metal genre. In this case it\u2019s relatively new Chilean band Spectral Sacrifice that has used it for their debut full-length release. Chile has produced some fantastic extreme metal over […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,5913],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-104885","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-ep-reviews","category-spectral-sacrifice"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104885","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104885"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104885\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":104887,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104885\/revisions\/104887"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104885"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104885"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104885"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}