My first encounter with French dissonant death cave-dwellers Sépulcre was precisely 24 hours ago and, since then, I have been scavenging about trying to find an abyss to leap into. Their debut record, the lengthily titled ‘Cryptic Temple Of Otherworldly Abhorrations’, is a densely layered, swirling mass of dissonance and despair…and one that I am wholly consumed by, and that makes me want to join it, and see out my days with it, in the aforementioned abyss.
Hailing from Brittany in France, and assumedly conversant in the world of Northern French wines, Sépulcre include Kev Desecrator who drums in Deströyer 666 and Dread Sovereign (amongst many more), and here takes on bass/guitar/vocal duties. Taking over the bestial skin-smashing duty is Jon Whiplash whose ability to hammer the living crap out of the kit is a key to this record’s incredible sound.
Sépulcre successfully incorporate the friction and harshness of bands such as Of Feather and Bone and Tomb Mold, and then inject it into a distinctly blackened backdrop as would be more akin to bands like Inferno. The results, clear from the outset through opener ‘Ominous Path (To The Nightside), are a colossal soundscape that seemingly delves to deeper, and more hopeless, depths as the record progresses.
Not afraid to take any willing listener on a hellride, the band know exactly when to shake you about a bit, slap you round the head and poke you in the eyes. ‘Katabasis’, a track which features around the halfway mark, raises a dying hand in an effort of reconciliation, and hurls out some less discordant, and brutally powerful riffs.
As with any record as well thought out, as ingeniously written, and as exquisitely produced as this, it is very hard to summarise the ebbs and flows in a short review. Records like this need to be listened to and to unlock whatever sensations they so choose. Thankfully, there aren’t that many records in the genre which are this good – so I would urge any willing participants to strip off, and jump into the abyss.
Best Paired With: Eyes in the dark, finding blood on your pillow and cosmic wonderment.
Reviewed by Jaff.
Sépulcre – Cryptic Temple Of Otherworldly Abhorrations is out now on Invictus Productions.
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