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I must say that I was equally surprised as saddened when hearing the news that Nocturnal Vomit split up. I knew this band for more than decade, I even did an interview with Isaak back in 2005, for the fifth issue of Panzerfaust zine and liked his inspiring attitude towards music and underground scene and values. Maybe their music back then wasn’t something spectacular, but solid for sure. Later the album “Cursed Relics” happened and I fuckin loved this album!!!! This was, for me personally, one of the best albums of 2012. It’s a shame that maybe it didn’t grab as much attention as it should, but well, I am sure that it grabbed attention of those who wanted to have it. And then Nocturnal Vomit split up and from their ashes The Psalm arose, with three ex-Nocturnal Vomit members, all except Issak actually. Well, I am not sure what the reasons were... But here’s The Psalm’s debut EP “I”, released on killer 7” vinyl through Hell's Fire Records in 350 copies. I did not hesitate to grab a copy and damn, I am happy I did so.

Killer music, killer band – this is what I can say about The Psalm. The “Cursed Relics” album was quite different than the old Nocturnal Vomit stuff; more in the vein of classic death metal, it reminded me Asphyx a lot, especially the vocals. Thomas Vomit also sings in The Psalm, so again his excellent voice may remind you of Martin van Drunen a lot. And that’s not something that can bring shame to this band, why would it? Besides, not all vocals are sung in this manner. And I just like these kind of harsh vocals a lot. Finally, these vocals are the only thing which can remind you of Asphyx, as musically The Psalm is quite different and actually I dare to say that stylistically it’s quite original death metal, with not so obvious comparisons that I could make.

First of all, this music has a very dark, mystical, obscure aura, which is almost ritualistic to some point. And some of these riffs, these harmonies are even close to some black metal stuff. The music is rather slow paced, but do not avoid to have great blasts here and there. And generally it is just heavy, aggressive, but also as said before, it’s atmospheric, eerie and malevolent. If you want to compare it to Pentacle, Abyssal, Adversarial, Morbid Angel, Dead Congregation, do so, but I still think that in the end The Psalm has a lot of originality and their own personality to offer, what is not so common these days. The songwriting is just excellent, a lot of great riffs, some melodies, fantastic guitar leads, diverse and interesting stuff from start to finish, great production… “Ascetic” is my favourite of the two songs, it’s just great, with quite a blackish feeling, as it starts with super fast riff, then they’re more like a good old Morbid Angel, to finish with a dark, quite hypnotizing aura. Oh, it’s super cool. And of course “A Mass for the Bereaved” also has no weak parts, damn. I cannot even describe how much I am enjoying these two songs! Fantastic debut then and now I can’t wait for some more music from The Psalm!

Final rate: 85/100