Sepulchral – From Beyond the Burial Tomb
Release Date: 25th February 2022
Label: Soulseller Records
Bandcamp
Genre: Death Metal, Old School Speed/Death.
FFO: Endseeker, Fuming Mouth, Cerebral Rot, Coffin Rot.
Review By: Andy Spoon
There’s a wonderful subgenre of newer OSDM that is featuring a righteously-heavy instrument section marquee’d by guitars with octave-dropping effects over that classical chainsaw death metal sound, then mixed with outrageously-overdriven or Octave-dropped bass guitar, leaving us with a sludgy, wet, chunky backing track that creates such a wild and wicked backing atmosphere. Sepulchral has tapped into that world, blending the raging, growling guitars/bass of Endseeker, Fuming Mouth, and Witch Vomit and adding a speed metal/thrash vocal elements, building a musical dynamic that doesn’t ever really lose the listener, something few bands in the genre could claim.
Vocals are reminiscent of a hybrid between Tom Araya of Slayer, Dez Fafara from Devildriver, and Lemmy Kilmister from Motorhead. The lyrical delivery is rhythmic, similar to thrash and speed metal, which offers a unique sound that has an interesting juxtaposition to similar OSDM-atmosphere bands like Cerebral Rot, who focus heavily on the unintelligible over the clear and concise diction. Vocalists Dusk and Gaueko have channelled their inner speed metal demons to chant through the lyrics à la Motorhead speed metal styling, which amounts to something absolutely fabulous over the coughing and growling music section. It is further enhanced by the minimalist drumming of percussionist Gorka, whose timely and stylistic restraint allows the vocal rhythm to dominate.
The lack of extreme attention to wild and blast-beat-heavy drumming is what balances the intensity of the guitar section. Gorka’s drumming excellently-recorded, but completely tempered in its usage to yield the musical soundstage to the guitars (in mono) and the vocal, which is expertly-displayed in Cursed Epitaph. Musical breaks and ebbs timely occur through the album, such as at the end of Tombstone Thrower, yielding the metal for a moody piano interlude, something useful to break up the 11 tracks of metric-speed voracity.
The fact that Sepulchral managed to write an LP with as many tracks is impressive in its own right, contrary to a majority of bands in the genre releasing shorter-form LPs with 4-7 tracks alone. After all, it is quite difficult to release an album that remains entertaining in these subgenres without the music becoming too repetitive. From Beyond the Burial Mound is largely entertaining as an entire record, not wasting time with a few good tracks mixed with tracks otherwise “phoned in” to fill some space. It also helps that band member Gorka was tasked with production and mixdown duties, as the album keeps a cohesive sound, mixing, levels, and musical cohesion, something on which most self-produced albums completely miss the mark.
It’s hard to find much to complain about on From Beyond the Burial Mound as far as technical aspects go. The recording, instrumentation, and artistic style come through very well, hopefully making Sepulchral one of those bands whose sound could be easily-deciphered by the ears only, and not by being forced to look them up if found on a playlist, something all metal bands need to capture to avoid being “just another band in a scene”. I found it hard to get bored at any point listening to the album, making it one of those albums I could easily let play front-to-back without straining to stay interested. Best tracks: Ceremony of Putrefaction, Cursed Epitaph, Tombstone Thrower.
(3.5 / 5)
