Sepulchral Curse – Abhorrent Dimensions (Review)

Sepulchral Curse are a blackened death metal band from Finland and this is their second album.

Following on from 2016’s At the Onset of Extinction and 2020’s Only Ashes Remain comes the 37-minute monster that is Abhorrent Dimensions. Put simply, this new album is Sepulchral Curse’s best work so far.

Sepulchral Curse have refined their sound on Abhorrent Dimensions, delivering a feast of death metal with imposing presence and macabre character. The band are merciless in their application of force, but skilled in directing it to achieve the greatest impact. As brutal as these new songs are, there’s also a more emotive and atmospheric side to Sepulchral Curse’s music that I’ve always particularly enjoyed, and this has been developed further on Abhorrent Dimensions.

Deeper levels of intricacy and nuance can be heard, alongside an increased appreciation for sinister melody. The blackened components of the music are tastefully applied and fully embedded, allowing the songs to reach a carefully wrought balance between brutality and atmospheric effect. These refinements of the Sepulchral Curse sound succeed in lending the music a greater emotional weight.

The well-written songs are packed with content that draws you back over and over again. The band’s death metal is shaded and layered, allowing for the discovery of new angles, ideas, and dark creative flourishes as you get to know the record’s hidden depths. Rich in mood and feeling, and anchored with brutal panache, humungous inhuman growls, and no small amount of killer riffs, Abhorrent Dimensions is the sort of album that deserves much of your time and attention.

Hellishly impressive and enjoyable stuff. Essential listening.