Darkside Ritual — Chamber of Deathlessness Review
Darkside Ritual is a Mexican Extreme Metal band forging a distinctive path through blackened death metal with a cosmic and philosophical edge. Hailing from San Juan del Río, Querétaro, the band explores themes of humanity, chaos, and the void across a trilogy of releases, culminating in their most recent work, “Chamber of Deathlessness,” on May 30th, 2025, and released via Chaos Records.
The First Three Sins, The Summary
The Fourth Sin, Overall Discussion
The Cosmic Blast Begins: Unleashing Shards of Eye
The moment the listener hits play, Shards Of Eye unleashes an intense cosmic force that blasts through the senses without pause. The album, entitled Chamber of Deathlessness, stretches over six brutal hymns, each crafted with unrelenting intensity across a tight thirty-five-minute span. It is a sonic assault, a mix of pure extremity that digs deep into the subconscious mind.
Venomous Atmosphere: A Maelstrom of Sonic Collapse
Darkside Ritual’s sound is like a venomous brew: the complex precision of metal blended seamlessly with the harsh currents of black metal. This combination creates a dense, suffocating atmosphere that feels unbreakable, relentless, and hauntingly bleak. The music doesn’t just push forward — it drags the listener through a maelstrom of sound, leaving no room for comfort or respite.
Ritual Shift: Abyssal Invocation in the Fifth Hymn
The fifth hymn marks a clear shift in mood and tone. The atmosphere darkens even further with the introduction of slower, more measured instrumentation. Guitars and drums retreat into a sluggish, deliberate rhythm. This arrangement is paired with vocals that sound like incantation, echoing as if summoned from some deep abyss. The vocals seem to drift from a hollow, shadowy space, reinforcing the sense of ritual and darkness. Black metal elements become more prominent here, especially in the vocal delivery — shrieking with a ghostly and ritual edge.
This transformation adds a ritualistic depth to the album, as if the listener is witnessing a sacred rite performed in the shadows of some forgotten underworld.
Cavernous Precision: Production as Arcane Architecture
Darkside Ritual’s production quality of Chamber of Deathlessness plays a key role. It is carefully crafted to sound huge and precise at the same time. The mix is like stepping into a cavern — vast, echoing, yet incredibly detailed. Every element is crystal clear. Cymbals shimmer like distant stars, long decayed and coated in black dust. The guttural vocals sound thick and viscous, while dissonant chords cut through with icy sharpness. The bass lines pulsate with tectonic force, rumbling underneath the chaos.
It’s a raw, visceral sound that feels like a shared spell, a collective effort of skilled devilmanship conjuring something arcane through music. The clarity allows every small detail — each cymbal crash, each bass riff swells, each dissonant note — to be felt with full force.
Riffs from the Ruins: Juan and Mauricio’s Chaotic Communion
Guitarists Juan and Mauricio craft riffs that seem to originate from a universe rotting away. Tremolo-picked phrases swirl and surge like violent celestial storms, creating chaotic yet disciplined waves of sound. Dissonant chords sound like distant screams, filling the mix with dread. The two share a complex interplay, winding around each other in ways that create a dizzying space of sound. Their riffs seem to collide and merge, producing both chaos and order — perfect for the album’s mystical, ritualistic theme.
Juan and Mauricio keep the mood raw and unstable, matching the album’s dark intent.
Bass Beneath the World: Martin’s Subterranean Currents
Martin’s bass work adds heaviness and depth to the sound. His riffs feel oppressive, yet highly intelligent. Occasionally, they mirror the guitars, adding to the sense of cosmic collapse. Other times, he digs into deeper, subterranean grooves, tunnelling beneath the chaos. The bass is not flashy but fundamental. It provides the rumbling undercurrent, like dark energy bubbling beneath an alien landscape. It grounds the music even as chaos erupts around it, giving everything a sense of balance amid destruction.
Drums of Ceremony: Ivan’s Controlled Chaos
Ivan’s drumming is where the music truly finds its chaos in control. His blast beats erupt like solar flares, lighting up the sound with frantic energy. His use of tom drums creates ritualistic rhythms that seem to march through some dark ceremony. Cymbals flicker and explode, adding sparks of light to the sonic storm. The way his parts are recorded separately builds natural tension and dynamic flow. The entire drum set feels alive, almost breathing with its own violent energy.
These beats push the music forward, creating a sense of urgency that pulls the listener deeper into the ritual.
Incantations Across the Veil: Juan’s Vocal Summoning
Juan’s vocals add the final, vital layer. His guttural incantations and scorched growls sound like summoning spirits from beyond the veil. His voice reverberates with spectral finality, amplifying the album’s haunted atmosphere. The vocals feel like an extension of the music’s dark ritual, adding a sense of ancient power and primal fury. They serve as a haunting soundtrack for the journey through cosmic decay and deathless realms.
Deathless Descent: The Ritual of Chamber of Deathlessness
Darkside Ritual’s Chamber of Deathlessness stands apart as more than just an album — it’s a brutal, ceremonial fruit of art. Pulling the listener into a place where death is not the end, but sacred transformation — a journey through deathless depths echoed in every note.
Darkside Ritual features members of Necronos, Delirium (Mex), Ex-Castleumbra, and Summoning Death, and their sound is a must-hear for fans of The Chasm, Blood Incantation, and Execration. [Chaos Records]
End of the Ritual: Gratitude in the Void
As the album enters its final rites, we offer thanks to Chaos Records for granting passage into Darkside Ritual’s Chamber of Deathlessness. Before we seal this review, we descend once more — unveiling the final three sins that close the ritual.
The Fifth Sin, The Memorabilia
The Sixth Sin, The Artwork
The Seventh Sin, Disrelish
Darkside Ritual
Juan Mondra — Guitars and Vocals
Martin Torres — Bass
Mauricio Hernández — Guitars
Ivan Herrera — Drums