This is the third album from Sepulchral Curse, a Finnish death metal band.
Sepulchral Curse have never let me down yet. Ever since discovering their dark brand of extremity on their 2016 EP At the Onset of Extinction, they have loomed large in my mind as quality purveyors of blackened death metal. Their first two albums – 2020’s Only Ashes Remain and 2023’s Abhorrent Dimensions – were both extremely enjoyable, so we turn to their third one with great expectations.
Crimson Moon Evocations contains 40 minutes of new music, and it’s all pretty damn good, let me tell you. This is probably Sepulchral Curse’s most engaging and well-realised album to date. It is built with classic death and black metal building blocks, and sounds simultaneously ancient, timeless, and modern.
I very much like how Sepulchral Curse bring death and black metal together, fusing the strength and power of the former with the darkness and atmosphere of the latter. This is blackened death metal that combines brutality with ominous atmosphere. The riffs scythe and batter, delivering their assault with a dark distortion that’s laced with blackened melodic might.
Sepulchral Curse are crushingly heavy, but there’s more than just brutal punishment on offer here. The riffs are alive with spectral darkness, evoking great mood-focused depth, while also underpinning the songs in muscular death metal power. These are all meaty compositions, with the shortest being a tad under five minutes. There are more hooks than ever, and some of the melodies and leads are positively infectious. The singer is rapidly cementing his monstrous voice as being one of the best growls in the business too.
Sepulchral Curse continue their ascent from the underworld with inexorable reliability. Crimson Moon Evocations is their best work so far, so if you’re a fan of death metal or blackened death metal, then don’t miss this beast of a record.
Essential listening.
Wonderbox Metal 