"Chambers Of Death" is the first, full length debut album by PLAGUEWIELDER. A fresh new band from Luxemburg, started only in 2012 and already having an album through hard work and dedication. As the world dictates, the first impression is crucial and I have to admit that at first, I had a huge dislike towards "Chambers Of Death" and I had a very hard time giving it a second chance.

As a Black Metal fan I do understand the significance of a matter of sound, usually, the 'underground' or as I call it 'bad' production, marks the genre. However, in the end of 2015, you wouldn't think that bands have an excuse to downgrade their sound for the sake of their genre. I had witnessed bands with brain blowing, Extreme genres that succeeded to devolve all the genre aspects perfectly with an excellent sound! So there's no excuse to make unlistenable Black Metal anymore; for me it's no more than low budget, amateur music.

"Existence Is Our Exile" is the opening track for the album. It's dark, depressing and very environmental, it gives you a chill. You can easily put yourself in agony and fear, imagine yourself stuck in a middle of a dark, rainy cold night in the woods, facing death. The second, "Drowned", is a slow Doom Metal piece; it's not getting any faster as it begins. Giving you the freezing silence feeling, the song has an interesting development at the 5:26 mark, with a surprisingly beautiful tune, a slow solo comes in to freeze the skin a little bit more. "Casket Of Dying Flesh", is an intriguing piece, it has its interesting developments such as the eerie Organ riff constantly playing for most of the time the same melody over and over again , even though it's repetitive as hell, it serves its purpose by giving you the terrifying feeling of an unending funeral.

"Father Suicide" is one of my favorites, it's outstanding for its individuality. This song sounds like it was borrowed from a different band, or just recorded as such by coincidence. For the first part of the song you can barely call it Metal at all, it has an Alternative/Rock feel and much less of a Doom/Black nature. The last track for this album, has its traditional approach, slow and depressive Doom Metal, delivering you a perfect picture of "The Funeral March".

"Chambers Of Death" has many good sides and some major downsides. The overall composition for this band is highly calculated and superb. Although it's very depressing and dark it is genius, it literally takes you away to the darkest corners of your mind. As I mentioned before while describing the songs, every song has its story, you can picture in your head how and when the situation took place and feel it with all your body.

The downsides for this album, is definitely its general sound; unfortunately as I said in the beginning, I have a problem with poor sound production. In my opinion, it makes the musician come across as an amateur, even if it was artistically on purpose. And what upsets me the most, is that you can hear every instrument clearly and perfectly, as if it all was manipulated, despite the 'rehearsal room' sound. Like the whole album was recorded from a distance through a wall, especially the drums and vocals.

Maybe it's the main idea, giving the listener more environmental feeling, but for me, it's just annoying, since the composition does a great job by giving the listener everything it needs. I believe then, there's no excuse for such a horrific sound.

Even if it was just a low budget case, as I see it by far, it's just an excuse to release such a masterpiece earlier than it should. It's not my job to judge the artist's decision although I still have to point out, I liked this album but I could've loved it much more. My ramblings aside, PLAGUEWIELDER have made something to be proud of.