Jade/Sanctuarium – The Sempiternal Wound – Split (Review)

This is a split release between two Spanish death metal bands, Jade and Sanctuarium.

I do enjoy a good split. It’s an opportunity to check out new/old bands doing something outside of a full length, and I’ve found more than a few gems over the years by checking out such releases.

Jade initially enticed me to give The Sempiternal Wound a listen, as I really enjoyed their 2022 debut album The Pacification of Death. They open up this split, and contribute three songs, with a total duration of 19 minutes.

Third Creation begins ominously, drawing deep from the atmospheric side of death/doom. It’s a style Jade excel at, and this song is a great way to start things off. It’s epic and dark, with an aggressive core of death metal that supplements the mood-based doomy outer coating. One thing, (of many), that I like about Jade is that they have far more tools in their toolbox that are based on the creation and maintenance of emotional content than the average death metal act does, and these are put to good use here. Jade’s songwriting is strong, and Third Creation fully justifies its eight-minute running time.

The next song is Cascade, which has more of an old-school death/doom vibe than Third Creation. It also puts me a little bit in mind of Bolt Thrower/Memoriam in places, at least partially because of the winding melody that’s used. This, mixed with a Peaceville feel and Jade’s own macabre stylings gives Cascade a delightfully ancient feel.

Jade’s last track is Essential Formulas for Life Transition, a song that continues in a similar vein to its predecessor, while having a voice of its own. It’s a song filled with dynamic grandeur, and whilst I can name a few bands I’m put in mind of while listening to it, (including a touch of Godgory and a pinch of some of Nile‘s slower work), it’s all Jade really.

This is my first encounter with Sanctuarium, and they offer up two tracks in 18 minutes.

Sanctuarium open with the 10-minute Recomposition of Carbonized Corpses, and are revealed to be peddlers of crushingly dark death/doom of the most malevolent variety. It’s slow and malignant, until it isn’t, when it increases the pace and aggression. Oh, and those vocals? They’re so guttural and lightless it’s remarkable. There’s enough melody to add colour, but otherwise this is a pitch black piece of grim and ugly doom-infused death metal.

The split closes with the grotesque Malodorous Osteophagy in Acrimony. After some baleful sounds it settles into a slithering groove that sounds ready to wage war. There’s less doom and more belligerence, as Sanctuarium confidently stride through a demolished landscape in search of fresh conquests.

Well, this has been more than enough to make me look forward to a new Jade album at some point, (hopefully), but to also check out Sanctuarium’s new record, which I’ve only just seen comes out the week before this split does. Assuming it is any good, you may very well see a review of that before this comes out, (it is very good indeed, and the review is here –Melted and Decomposed). Either way, The Sempiternal Wound is well worth your time. Make sure you check it out.