����� An interesting piece of early Spanish death metal that was recently rescued from obscurity with a new re-mastered reissue on both CD and LP, 1992's From Far Beyond was the only album to come from this little-known outfit, released only on cassette in a tiny edition of one hundred copies that went out of print almost immediately. It turned into a sought after artifact of nightmarish subterranean death metal in the years since though, and for good reason; after a pair of middling demos, Feretrum really upped their game for their debut full-length, crafting a suffocating, sludge-encrusted sound steeped in an inescapable atmosphere of evil that seeps into every moment. Granted, like much of the death metal that was coming out back then, Feretrum were soaking up the stuff that was coming out of Sweden, and the crushing, dark tones of bands like Unleashed and Entombed are an unmistakable influence on their music. But these guys also brought some filthy, withering character of their own to these songs, embodied in their exceptional riffing and bone-rattling down-tuned heaviness, and their tendency to occasionally erupt into near grindcore levels of blasting violence.

����� Just about every one of the eight songs on From Far Beyond offer up seriously raw and murky death metal, the churning buzzsaw guitars thrashing within a thick fog of sonic filth, laced with spooky, subterranean synthesizer sounds and droning keyboard intros. It veers between aggressive, rampaging thrash and surges of blasting chaos, frenzied tremolo riffing and chromatic crush mixed with some killer soloing that suggests a strong Morbid Angel influence, but those guitars are tuned down to a real gut-churning rumble. The morbid, rot-obsessed lyrics are delivered in Spanish, a vicious snarl ripping through the guttural heaviness, and there's some restrained use of eerie ambient textures that are smeared over some of the album's slower passages of pulverizing, crawling death-doom, as well as the occasional gloomy acoustic guitar figure. All clearly informed by the deathly vibe of the Swedish death metal sound, but enshrouded in a murky, evil haze and a ragged, low-fi production that befits the band's maniacal graveyard violence. The title track particularly sticks out, a monstrous blast that slips into shambling slower heaviness, ghostly synths piercing the blackness as funereal church bells toll in the distance, the sound gradually whipped into a shrieking frenzy that turns especially chaotic towards the end.

����� This cult slab of crushing chthonic horror was definitely due for rediscovery, and this reissue gives the album it's proper due with improved new album art and extensive liner notes.