Sepulcre – Cryptic Temple Of Otherworldly Abhorrations
Sepulcre – Cryptic Temple Of Otherworldly Abhorrations
Invictus Productions
Release date: 16/10/26
Review by: Oli Gonzalez
8/10
There’s something brewing in the shadows of France! With the likes of Igorrr, Alcest, and gold medal-winning Gojira pushing metal forward, a crop of bands in the murky underground are looking to the past and resurrecting the old-school death metal horrors of yore. First, Profanation with their brand-new skull-crushing, violent debut “Ultra Noise Warfare”. Now it’s Sepulcre’s turn with “Cryptic Temple Of Otherworldly Abhorrations”. No doubt that’s a mouthful, but people won’t forget Sepulcre’s name after they get their ears on this monster of a debut!
‘Omnious Path’ couldn’t be a more fitting title! With the orchestral strings establishing an austere and eerie atmosphere, it acts as a warning. There’s still time to retreat and escape. Though if you ignore that warning, you’ll be slammed with the most sadistic offering of cavernous death metal that shatters the silence in the air! Sadistic as it is slow and bludgeoning, but the pace quickens in ‘Abyssum Drakon’, a pace that will cause relentless carnage when they unearth this in the live setting. Though the band seems more composed in a death-doom sound that captures the gnarly bite and technical precision of death metal with the sheer gravity and force of doom metal! You can see this with the guitars, which can shift from frantic runs on the fretboard to overwhelming, crushing single notes that are left to ring out with the intention of crushing anything in their path. Perhaps most crucial in creating this cavernous sound are the notes that they DON’T play. That’s right, sometimes bands overengineer things and can kill the atmosphere by simply playing too much. Let the sounds linger, give them space, let the listener fully absorb and process their impact. Sepulcre understands this less-is-more mindset and provides a textbook example here. ‘…of Otherworldly Abhorrations’ is fully instrumental, with the vocals – as bleak and fierce as they come – taking a short hiatus to let the thunderous grooves fully lock in.
The pace quickens in segments of ‘Towards The Unknown’ and ‘Darkness Rules Supreme’, whilst the latter provides a showcase in piercing atmospheric guitar tones. Though they never stray too far from that low and slow spine.
Look, we’ve seen some blistering death metal releases this year from artists like Immolation, Vomitory, and Funebrarum. Sepulcre prove that not only can they hang with them, but they also showcase that they’re a viable threat that should be taken deadly seriously with “Cryptic Temple Of Otherworldly Abhorrations”
TRACKLISTING:
01.Ominous Path (to the Nightside)
02. Abyssum Drakon
03. Cryptic Temple…
04. …of Otherworldly Abhorrations
05. Katabasis
06. Towards the Unknown
07. Darkness Rules Supreme
LINKS:
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