#sanctuarium — Public Fediverse posts

https://www.europesays.com/uk/898776/ Foetorem – Incongruous Forms of Evergrowing Rot Review #2026 #30 #CannibalCorpse #DanishMetal #DeathMetal #DoomMetal #Entertainment #Foetorem #GatesOfIshtar #IncongruousFormsOfEvergrowingRot #Mar26 #music #Phobophilic #Review #Reviews #Sanctuarium #Sedimentum #UK #UnitedKingdom #Vader

I am writing this review with tequila and lime salt still oozing out of my pores. My eyeballs each have a different heartbeat, and I am honestly amazed (if not a little disappointed) that I began the day with my pants still on. And yet the call of the promo pit continues, as I was shaken out of my birthday-shenanigans-induced stupor by the smell of gorilla breath outside my lion’s den, and something rancid chucked at its entrance. The Ape being pleased post-album release usually means great news for hopeful bands and an increased labor for those under his watchful and merciless eye, and one peep at this moldy art spelled out the whole mission statement from the get-go. Denmark’s Foetorem are a very young outfit, having just penned their sole demo last year1 before unleashing their debut full-length Incongruous Forms of Evergrowing Rot on the unsuspecting masses. I hope you’re hungry, because we’ve got some leftovers from rotsgiving waiting for you!

Foetorem specialize in a refreshingly energetic breed of death/doom. Blasts feature aplenty, but are typically used as points of transition or introduction/outro to songs. Most of Incongruous Forms of Evergrowing Rot operates on second and third gear, with the sustained open chords you’d expect often molding into mid-paced chugging savagery. Indeed, if you’re a sucker for mid-paced chuggathons, this will be a euphoric experience for you as the overwhelming backbone of most of the songs rely on such a trope. Imagine the most downtempo moments of Cannibal Corpse with a lot of atmospheric high-trem plucking for atmospherics and run through some extra fresh grave soil—something between Phobophilic and SEDIMENTUM—and you have a good idea of what’s waiting. The high note musings are a great addition, giving whiffs of melancholy and gloom to the proceedings, which might otherwise threaten to be an overly simplistic sound with their engaging melodies (“Mors Viaturis – The Death Traveler”) before collapsing into the next jackhammer assault.

Incongruous Forms Of Evergrowing Rot by Foetorem

And boy howdy, jackhammers are aplenty. Despite the relative simplicity of the approach, a great deal of thought has gone into each arrangement to keep one concrete-burrowing assault after another fresh and engaging. “Tapestries of Misery” commands with a gripping 6/8 time signature and a whiff of unexpected SKRONK, while “Oozing with Pustulent Fluids” keeps burrowing into the earth’s crust with a classic Vader riff played at half speed while drummer Geistaz keeps things engaging with an ever-shifting focus between creative bass fills and high-hat ting-and-tangs. His drumming is part of what keeps the Foetorem recipe so engaging (“Rebirth in Morbid Disgust”) as no chug sounds exactly the same despite the band drawing so deeply from what is a usually very narrowly defined well.

If you’re about that chug life, the death here is excellent; the only real stumbling block comes from some of the doomier elements. Foetorem have improved on the Sanctuarium formula of sandwiching their blasts and chugs between sudden slowdowns, but there’s no escaping that some moments are real momentum killers. “Oozing…” drops down to bare-minimum quarter note walks lacking any weight to carry the empty space, while “Decay of the Flesh” throws in some harmonized leads that don’t quite overcome the lack of progression in the songs. Not every doom element is poor, by any means, but it happens enough to degrade decompose Incongruous Forms of Evergrowing Rot” to an album more memorable by its moments than by the wholeness of its songs. And yet, those highlights are plenty, and it’s great to hear when the band really stick the landing, like in album finale “Peeled Face Mask”. This is a contender for the top of the song pile, with the most ruthless chugs, groovy riffing, great doomy moments, and even a major dollop of leads sounding pulled from Gates of Ishtar.2 This track shows the band have a great grasp of what makes their sound a success, and more of this across the whole body of work would lead to a real RotM contender.

Incongruous Forms of Evergrowing Rot is less an excellent debut and more an excellent debut. It shows a band with a clear purpose and musical vision, but a vision not free of warts and rough edges. When it hits, though, it hits. Foetorem have erupted from the grave, covered in fluid and mold, ready to make their deathly mark on the world. With enough force to change cave structure and a grasp of atmosphere beyond their youth, the band have announced their presence in style, and I believe the best is yet to come for their cemetery anthems. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to get myself some coffee and some food. Preferably, something a little extra raw and rotted…

Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 8 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Everlasting Spew Records
Website: Album Bandcamp
Releases Worldwide: March 27th, 2026

I am writing this review with tequila and lime salt still oozing out of my pores. My eyeballs each have a different heartbeat, and I am honestly amazed (if not a little disappointed) that I began the day with my pants still on. And yet the call of the promo pit continues, as I was shaken out of my birthday-shenanigans-induced stupor by the smell of gorilla breath outside my lion’s den, and something rancid chucked at its entrance. The Ape being pleased post-album release usually means great news for hopeful bands and an increased labor for those under his watchful and merciless eye, and one peep at this moldy art spelled out the whole mission statement from the get-go. Denmark’s Foetorem are a very young outfit, having just penned their sole demo last year1 before unleashing their debut full-length Incongruous Forms of Evergrowing Rot on the unsuspecting masses. I hope you’re hungry, because we’ve got some leftovers from rotsgiving waiting for you!

Foetorem specialize in a refreshingly energetic breed of death/doom. Blasts feature aplenty, but are typically used as points of transition or introduction/outro to songs. Most of Incongruous Forms of Evergrowing Rot operates on second and third gear, with the sustained open chords you’d expect often molding into mid-paced chugging savagery. Indeed, if you’re a sucker for mid-paced chuggathons, this will be a euphoric experience for you as the overwhelming backbone of most of the songs rely on such a trope. Imagine the most downtempo moments of Cannibal Corpse with a lot of atmospheric high-trem plucking for atmospherics and run through some extra fresh grave soil—something between Phobophilic and SEDIMENTUM—and you have a good idea of what’s waiting. The high note musings are a great addition, giving whiffs of melancholy and gloom to the proceedings, which might otherwise threaten to be an overly simplistic sound with their engaging melodies (“Mors Viaturis – The Death Traveler”) before collapsing into the next jackhammer assault.

Incongruous Forms Of Evergrowing Rot by Foetorem

And boy howdy, jackhammers are aplenty. Despite the relative simplicity of the approach, a great deal of thought has gone into each arrangement to keep one concrete-burrowing assault after another fresh and engaging. “Tapestries of Misery” commands with a gripping 6/8 time signature and a whiff of unexpected SKRONK, while “Oozing with Pustulent Fluids” keeps burrowing into the earth’s crust with a classic Vader riff played at half speed while drummer Geistaz keeps things engaging with an ever-shifting focus between creative bass fills and high-hat ting-and-tangs. His drumming is part of what keeps the Foetorem recipe so engaging (“Rebirth in Morbid Disgust”) as no chug sounds exactly the same despite the band drawing so deeply from what is a usually very narrowly defined well.

If you’re about that chug life, the death here is excellent; the only real stumbling block comes from some of the doomier elements. Foetorem have improved on the Sanctuarium formula of sandwiching their blasts and chugs between sudden slowdowns, but there’s no escaping that some moments are real momentum killers. “Oozing…” drops down to bare-minimum quarter note walks lacking any weight to carry the empty space, while “Decay of the Flesh” throws in some harmonized leads that don’t quite overcome the lack of progression in the songs. Not every doom element is poor, by any means, but it happens enough to degrade decompose Incongruous Forms of Evergrowing Rot” to an album more memorable by its moments than by the wholeness of its songs. And yet, those highlights are plenty, and it’s great to hear when the band really stick the landing, like in album finale “Peeled Face Mask”. This is a contender for the top of the song pile, with the most ruthless chugs, groovy riffing, great doomy moments, and even a major dollop of leads sounding pulled from Gates of Ishtar.2 This track shows the band have a great grasp of what makes their sound a success, and more of this across the whole body of work would lead to a real RotM contender.

Incongruous Forms of Evergrowing Rot is less an excellent debut and more an excellent debut. It shows a band with a clear purpose and musical vision, but a vision not free of warts and rough edges. When it hits, though, it hits. Foetorem have erupted from the grave, covered in fluid and mold, ready to make their deathly mark on the world. With enough force to change cave structure and a grasp of atmosphere beyond their youth, the band have announced their presence in style, and I believe the best is yet to come for their cemetery anthems. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to get myself some coffee and some food. Preferably, something a little extra raw and rotted…

Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 8 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Everlasting Spew Records
Website: Album Bandcamp
Releases Worldwide: March 27th, 2026

I am writing this review with tequila and lime salt still oozing out of my pores. My eyeballs each have a different heartbeat, and I am honestly amazed (if not a little disappointed) that I began the day with my pants still on. And yet the call of the promo pit continues, as I was shaken out of my birthday-shenanigans-induced stupor by the smell of gorilla breath outside my lion’s den, and something rancid chucked at its entrance. The Ape being pleased post-album release usually means great news for hopeful bands and an increased labor for those under his watchful and merciless eye, and one peep at this moldy art spelled out the whole mission statement from the get-go. Denmark’s Foetorem are a very young outfit, having just penned their sole demo last year1 before unleashing their debut full-length Incongruous Forms of Evergrowing Rot on the unsuspecting masses. I hope you’re hungry, because we’ve got some leftovers from rotsgiving waiting for you!

Foetorem specialize in a refreshingly energetic breed of death/doom. Blasts feature aplenty, but are typically used as points of transition or introduction/outro to songs. Most of Incongruous Forms of Evergrowing Rot operates on second and third gear, with the sustained open chords you’d expect often molding into mid-paced chugging savagery. Indeed, if you’re a sucker for mid-paced chuggathons, this will be a euphoric experience for you as the overwhelming backbone of most of the songs rely on such a trope. Imagine the most downtempo moments of Cannibal Corpse with a lot of atmospheric high-trem plucking for atmospherics and run through some extra fresh grave soil—something between Phobophilic and SEDIMENTUM—and you have a good idea of what’s waiting. The high note musings are a great addition, giving whiffs of melancholy and gloom to the proceedings, which might otherwise threaten to be an overly simplistic sound with their engaging melodies (“Mors Viaturis – The Death Traveler”) before collapsing into the next jackhammer assault.

Incongruous Forms Of Evergrowing Rot by Foetorem

And boy howdy, jackhammers are aplenty. Despite the relative simplicity of the approach, a great deal of thought has gone into each arrangement to keep one concrete-burrowing assault after another fresh and engaging. “Tapestries of Misery” commands with a gripping 6/8 time signature and a whiff of unexpected SKRONK, while “Oozing with Pustulent Fluids” keeps burrowing into the earth’s crust with a classic Vader riff played at half speed while drummer Geistaz keeps things engaging with an ever-shifting focus between creative bass fills and high-hat ting-and-tangs. His drumming is part of what keeps the Foetorem recipe so engaging (“Rebirth in Morbid Disgust”) as no chug sounds exactly the same despite the band drawing so deeply from what is a usually very narrowly defined well.

If you’re about that chug life, the death here is excellent; the only real stumbling block comes from some of the doomier elements. Foetorem have improved on the Sanctuarium formula of sandwiching their blasts and chugs between sudden slowdowns, but there’s no escaping that some moments are real momentum killers. “Oozing…” drops down to bare-minimum quarter note walks lacking any weight to carry the empty space, while “Decay of the Flesh” throws in some harmonized leads that don’t quite overcome the lack of progression in the songs. Not every doom element is poor, by any means, but it happens enough to degrade decompose Incongruous Forms of Evergrowing Rot” to an album more memorable by its moments than by the wholeness of its songs. And yet, those highlights are plenty, and it’s great to hear when the band really stick the landing, like in album finale “Peeled Face Mask”. This is a contender for the top of the song pile, with the most ruthless chugs, groovy riffing, great doomy moments, and even a major dollop of leads sounding pulled from Gates of Ishtar.2 This track shows the band have a great grasp of what makes their sound a success, and more of this across the whole body of work would lead to a real RotM contender.

Incongruous Forms of Evergrowing Rot is less an excellent debut and more an excellent debut. It shows a band with a clear purpose and musical vision, but a vision not free of warts and rough edges. When it hits, though, it hits. Foetorem have erupted from the grave, covered in fluid and mold, ready to make their deathly mark on the world. With enough force to change cave structure and a grasp of atmosphere beyond their youth, the band have announced their presence in style, and I believe the best is yet to come for their cemetery anthems. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to get myself some coffee and some food. Preferably, something a little extra raw and rotted…

Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 8 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Everlasting Spew Records
Website: Album Bandcamp
Releases Worldwide: March 27th, 2026

I am writing this review with tequila and lime salt still oozing out of my pores. My eyeballs each have a different heartbeat, and I am honestly amazed (if not a little disappointed) that I began the day with my pants still on. And yet the call of the promo pit continues, as I was shaken out of my birthday-shenanigans-induced stupor by the smell of gorilla breath outside my lion’s den, and something rancid chucked at its entrance. The Ape being pleased post-album release usually means great news for hopeful bands and an increased labor for those under his watchful and merciless eye, and one peep at this moldy art spelled out the whole mission statement from the get-go. Denmark’s Foetorem are a very young outfit, having just penned their sole demo last year1 before unleashing their debut full-length Incongruous Forms of Evergrowing Rot on the unsuspecting masses. I hope you’re hungry, because we’ve got some leftovers from rotsgiving waiting for you!

Foetorem specialize in a refreshingly energetic breed of death/doom. Blasts feature aplenty, but are typically used as points of transition or introduction/outro to songs. Most of Incongruous Forms of Evergrowing Rot operates on second and third gear, with the sustained open chords you’d expect often molding into mid-paced chugging savagery. Indeed, if you’re a sucker for mid-paced chuggathons, this will be a euphoric experience for you as the overwhelming backbone of most of the songs rely on such a trope. Imagine the most downtempo moments of Cannibal Corpse with a lot of atmospheric high-trem plucking for atmospherics and run through some extra fresh grave soil—something between Phobophilic and SEDIMENTUM—and you have a good idea of what’s waiting. The high note musings are a great addition, giving whiffs of melancholy and gloom to the proceedings, which might otherwise threaten to be an overly simplistic sound with their engaging melodies (“Mors Viaturis – The Death Traveler”) before collapsing into the next jackhammer assault.

Incongruous Forms Of Evergrowing Rot by Foetorem

And boy howdy, jackhammers are aplenty. Despite the relative simplicity of the approach, a great deal of thought has gone into each arrangement to keep one concrete-burrowing assault after another fresh and engaging. “Tapestries of Misery” commands with a gripping 6/8 time signature and a whiff of unexpected SKRONK, while “Oozing with Pustulent Fluids” keeps burrowing into the earth’s crust with a classic Vader riff played at half speed while drummer Geistaz keeps things engaging with an ever-shifting focus between creative bass fills and high-hat ting-and-tangs. His drumming is part of what keeps the Foetorem recipe so engaging (“Rebirth in Morbid Disgust”) as no chug sounds exactly the same despite the band drawing so deeply from what is a usually very narrowly defined well.

If you’re about that chug life, the death here is excellent; the only real stumbling block comes from some of the doomier elements. Foetorem have improved on the Sanctuarium formula of sandwiching their blasts and chugs between sudden slowdowns, but there’s no escaping that some moments are real momentum killers. “Oozing…” drops down to bare-minimum quarter note walks lacking any weight to carry the empty space, while “Decay of the Flesh” throws in some harmonized leads that don’t quite overcome the lack of progression in the songs. Not every doom element is poor, by any means, but it happens enough to degrade decompose Incongruous Forms of Evergrowing Rot” to an album more memorable by its moments than by the wholeness of its songs. And yet, those highlights are plenty, and it’s great to hear when the band really stick the landing, like in album finale “Peeled Face Mask”. This is a contender for the top of the song pile, with the most ruthless chugs, groovy riffing, great doomy moments, and even a major dollop of leads sounding pulled from Gates of Ishtar.2 This track shows the band have a great grasp of what makes their sound a success, and more of this across the whole body of work would lead to a real RotM contender.

Incongruous Forms of Evergrowing Rot is less an excellent debut and more an excellent debut. It shows a band with a clear purpose and musical vision, but a vision not free of warts and rough edges. When it hits, though, it hits. Foetorem have erupted from the grave, covered in fluid and mold, ready to make their deathly mark on the world. With enough force to change cave structure and a grasp of atmosphere beyond their youth, the band have announced their presence in style, and I believe the best is yet to come for their cemetery anthems. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to get myself some coffee and some food. Preferably, something a little extra raw and rotted…

Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 8 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Everlasting Spew Records
Website: Album Bandcamp
Releases Worldwide: March 27th, 2026

I am writing this review with tequila and lime salt still oozing out of my pores. My eyeballs each have a different heartbeat, and I am honestly amazed (if not a little disappointed) that I began the day with my pants still on. And yet the call of the promo pit continues, as I was shaken out of my birthday-shenanigans-induced stupor by the smell of gorilla breath outside my lion’s den, and something rancid chucked at its entrance. The Ape being pleased post-album release usually means great news for hopeful bands and an increased labor for those under his watchful and merciless eye, and one peep at this moldy art spelled out the whole mission statement from the get-go. Denmark’s Foetorem are a very young outfit, having just penned their sole demo last year1 before unleashing their debut full-length Incongruous Forms of Evergrowing Rot on the unsuspecting masses. I hope you’re hungry, because we’ve got some leftovers from rotsgiving waiting for you!

Foetorem specialize in a refreshingly energetic breed of death/doom. Blasts feature aplenty, but are typically used as points of transition or introduction/outro to songs. Most of Incongruous Forms of Evergrowing Rot operates on second and third gear, with the sustained open chords you’d expect often molding into mid-paced chugging savagery. Indeed, if you’re a sucker for mid-paced chuggathons, this will be a euphoric experience for you as the overwhelming backbone of most of the songs rely on such a trope. Imagine the most downtempo moments of Cannibal Corpse with a lot of atmospheric high-trem plucking for atmospherics and run through some extra fresh grave soil—something between Phobophilic and SEDIMENTUM—and you have a good idea of what’s waiting. The high note musings are a great addition, giving whiffs of melancholy and gloom to the proceedings, which might otherwise threaten to be an overly simplistic sound with their engaging melodies (“Mors Viaturis – The Death Traveler”) before collapsing into the next jackhammer assault.

Incongruous Forms Of Evergrowing Rot by Foetorem

And boy howdy, jackhammers are aplenty. Despite the relative simplicity of the approach, a great deal of thought has gone into each arrangement to keep one concrete-burrowing assault after another fresh and engaging. “Tapestries of Misery” commands with a gripping 6/8 time signature and a whiff of unexpected SKRONK, while “Oozing with Pustulent Fluids” keeps burrowing into the earth’s crust with a classic Vader riff played at half speed while drummer Geistaz keeps things engaging with an ever-shifting focus between creative bass fills and high-hat ting-and-tangs. His drumming is part of what keeps the Foetorem recipe so engaging (“Rebirth in Morbid Disgust”) as no chug sounds exactly the same despite the band drawing so deeply from what is a usually very narrowly defined well.

If you’re about that chug life, the death here is excellent; the only real stumbling block comes from some of the doomier elements. Foetorem have improved on the Sanctuarium formula of sandwiching their blasts and chugs between sudden slowdowns, but there’s no escaping that some moments are real momentum killers. “Oozing…” drops down to bare-minimum quarter note walks lacking any weight to carry the empty space, while “Decay of the Flesh” throws in some harmonized leads that don’t quite overcome the lack of progression in the songs. Not every doom element is poor, by any means, but it happens enough to degrade decompose Incongruous Forms of Evergrowing Rot” to an album more memorable by its moments than by the wholeness of its songs. And yet, those highlights are plenty, and it’s great to hear when the band really stick the landing, like in album finale “Peeled Face Mask”. This is a contender for the top of the song pile, with the most ruthless chugs, groovy riffing, great doomy moments, and even a major dollop of leads sounding pulled from Gates of Ishtar.2 This track shows the band have a great grasp of what makes their sound a success, and more of this across the whole body of work would lead to a real RotM contender.

Incongruous Forms of Evergrowing Rot is less an excellent debut and more an excellent debut. It shows a band with a clear purpose and musical vision, but a vision not free of warts and rough edges. When it hits, though, it hits. Foetorem have erupted from the grave, covered in fluid and mold, ready to make their deathly mark on the world. With enough force to change cave structure and a grasp of atmosphere beyond their youth, the band have announced their presence in style, and I believe the best is yet to come for their cemetery anthems. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to get myself some coffee and some food. Preferably, something a little extra raw and rotted…

Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 8 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Everlasting Spew Records
Website: Album Bandcamp
Releases Worldwide: March 27th, 2026

Tonite! #Portal (AU) + #ImpetuousRitual (AU) + #Ossuary (US) + #Sanctuarium (ES) + #SpadaIntraesofagea #Death Metal #Black Metal
#Magasin4 #Bruxelles

Sanctuarium – Melted and Decomposed Review

By Angry Metal Guy

By: Nameless_n00b_85

Sanctuarium is a young band with an old, rotted soul. Beginning life as a one-man old-school death project, the outfit quickly expanded after its first demo into a two-man unit for its debut full-length, Into the Mephitic Abyss. This change shifted the band’s approach from straightforward OSDM into a more synth-drenched death/doom hybrid, heavy on atmosphere blending their doomy dirges in with mid-paced death. On their sophomore outing, Melted and Decomposed, the band has upped to a full five-piece and further evolved sound. With this stylistic shift and three new members, it remains to be seen if Melted and Decomposed innovates or not.

Good death/doom needs to have the sound to back up the music, and here Melted and Decomposed excels at its soundscape. This album sounds monstrous, with a thick, buzzsaw guitar tone that serves the death and doom elements equally well. Drummer Agus alternates between fills and flourishes, as the death riffs allow him to show his chops in snare abuse and creative fills, while the doom passages shift him into the background. Vocalist Carlos adds heaps of atmosphere with his performance, alternating between gutturals and prolonged, vaguely blackened screeches that are drowned in reverb and always seem to be cutting through from the back of the mix. The whole package sounds foul and is a real treat for lovers of that vintage OSDM sound. This time, however, Sanctuarium has opted to separate the ingredients of death and doom and offer them up in alternating layers instead of a proper blending of sounds. As a result, this is a mixed bag of an album, with its core approach to songwriting proving to be its biggest stumbling block.

When Sanctuarium focuses on playing proper death metal, they sound properly infected. Their approach is at times beatdown heavy, such as the ending of “Exultant Dredges of Nameless Tombs,” which features some of the album’s most creative drumming over a riff that Bongripper would be proud of. Elsewhere, “Phlegmatic Convulsions” sports stank-face-inducing riffs that glide forward like tanks and sports a midsection that sounds pulled straight from the Coffins playbook of grooves. It is in such moments that Sanctuarium is at its most lethal. While never approaching anything that could be considered “technical,” the death portions of every cut never lack energy and zeal.

Where the album struggles is when the band brings the music to a screeching halt. With every song clearing a minimum mark of eight minutes, each contains multiple doom passages that teeter on funeral doom pacing–single-note, single-snare-hit dirges that derail the momentum of any song. This approach is pervasive throughout the album—groovy, catchy, wonderful death riffs suddenly interrupted without warning by brake-slamming, overly sustained chords (for especially egregious examples, check out “Abhorrent Excruciation in Reprisal” and “Sadistic Cremation of Emaciated Offal”) There is no build up to such moments—nor a cathartic explosion after them—instead, they are treated like an afterthought, as if the band remembered they needed to put doom into the album to adhere to their sound, before moving right along to the next death riff. Frustratingly, the final minutes of the closing track “The Disembodied Grip of Putrescence” even show the band suddenly grasping at the last moment how to make doom work to serve the song structure rather than the other way around. All too late, the writing proves capable, vindicating their sandwiching approach. Unfortunately, no other song manages this balance, and the doom elements commit the greatest crime in metal music: being boring.

Ultimately, Melted and Decomposed is a curious listen. I’ve never heard an album at once hit such delightful highs and experience such abysmal failings, and within the same song.1 The sound is excellent, the death metal elements strong, the atmosphere pervasive, and the doom doesn’t have to suck as hard as it does. Resuming the blended approach of their first album or improving the transitions and bridges between their divided song structures will let them unleash something truly putrid to the world on their next outing. Nevertheless, the death portions present an EP’s worth of genuine goodness, and lovers of all things audibly foul should investigate for themselves.

Rating: 2.0/5.0
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s CBR MP3
Label: Me Saco un Ojo Records
Websites: sanctuarium.bandcamp.com (old) | mesacounojo.bandcamp.com (current album)
Releases Worldwide: September 3rd, 2024

#20 #2024 #Bongripper #Coffins #DeathMetal #DoomMetal #MeltedAndDecomposed #OSDM #Review #Reviews #Sanctuarium #Sep24

Sanctuarium – Melted and Decomposed Review

By Angry Metal Guy

By: Nameless_n00b_85

Sanctuarium is a young band with an old, rotted soul. Beginning life as a one-man old-school death project, the outfit quickly expanded after its first demo into a two-man unit for its debut full-length, Into the Mephitic Abyss. This change shifted the band’s approach from straightforward OSDM into a more synth-drenched death/doom hybrid, heavy on atmosphere blending their doomy dirges in with mid-paced death. On their sophomore outing, Melted and Decomposed, the band has upped to a full five-piece and further evolved sound. With this stylistic shift and three new members, it remains to be seen if Melted and Decomposed innovates or not.

Good death/doom needs to have the sound to back up the music, and here Melted and Decomposed excels at its soundscape. This album sounds monstrous, with a thick, buzzsaw guitar tone that serves the death and doom elements equally well. Drummer Agus alternates between fills and flourishes, as the death riffs allow him to show his chops in snare abuse and creative fills, while the doom passages shift him into the background. Vocalist Carlos adds heaps of atmosphere with his performance, alternating between gutturals and prolonged, vaguely blackened screeches that are drowned in reverb and always seem to be cutting through from the back of the mix. The whole package sounds foul and is a real treat for lovers of that vintage OSDM sound. This time, however, Sanctuarium has opted to separate the ingredients of death and doom and offer them up in alternating layers instead of a proper blending of sounds. As a result, this is a mixed bag of an album, with its core approach to songwriting proving to be its biggest stumbling block.

When Sanctuarium focuses on playing proper death metal, they sound properly infected. Their approach is at times beatdown heavy, such as the ending of “Exultant Dredges of Nameless Tombs,” which features some of the album’s most creative drumming over a riff that Bongripper would be proud of. Elsewhere, “Phlegmatic Convulsions” sports stank-face-inducing riffs that glide forward like tanks and sports a midsection that sounds pulled straight from the Coffins playbook of grooves. It is in such moments that Sanctuarium is at its most lethal. While never approaching anything that could be considered “technical,” the death portions of every cut never lack energy and zeal.

Where the album struggles is when the band brings the music to a screeching halt. With every song clearing a minimum mark of eight minutes, each contains multiple doom passages that teeter on funeral doom pacing–single-note, single-snare-hit dirges that derail the momentum of any song. This approach is pervasive throughout the album—groovy, catchy, wonderful death riffs suddenly interrupted without warning by brake-slamming, overly sustained chords (for especially egregious examples, check out “Abhorrent Excruciation in Reprisal” and “Sadistic Cremation of Emaciated Offal”) There is no build up to such moments—nor a cathartic explosion after them—instead, they are treated like an afterthought, as if the band remembered they needed to put doom into the album to adhere to their sound, before moving right along to the next death riff. Frustratingly, the final minutes of the closing track “The Disembodied Grip of Putrescence” even show the band suddenly grasping at the last moment how to make doom work to serve the song structure rather than the other way around. All too late, the writing proves capable, vindicating their sandwiching approach. Unfortunately, no other song manages this balance, and the doom elements commit the greatest crime in metal music: being boring.

Ultimately, Melted and Decomposed is a curious listen. I’ve never heard an album at once hit such delightful highs and experience such abysmal failings, and within the same song.1 The sound is excellent, the death metal elements strong, the atmosphere pervasive, and the doom doesn’t have to suck as hard as it does. Resuming the blended approach of their first album or improving the transitions and bridges between their divided song structures will let them unleash something truly putrid to the world on their next outing. Nevertheless, the death portions present an EP’s worth of genuine goodness, and lovers of all things audibly foul should investigate for themselves.

Rating: 2.0/5.0
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s CBR MP3
Label: Me Saco un Ojo Records
Websites: sanctuarium.bandcamp.com (old) | mesacounojo.bandcamp.com (current album)
Releases Worldwide: September 3rd, 2024

#20 #2024 #Bongripper #Coffins #DeathMetal #DoomMetal #MeltedAndDecomposed #OSDM #Review #Reviews #Sanctuarium #Sep24

Sanctuarium – Melted and Decomposed Review

By Angry Metal Guy

By: Nameless_n00b_85

Sanctuarium is a young band with an old, rotted soul. Beginning life as a one-man old-school death project, the outfit quickly expanded after its first demo into a two-man unit for its debut full-length, Into the Mephitic Abyss. This change shifted the band’s approach from straightforward OSDM into a more synth-drenched death/doom hybrid, heavy on atmosphere blending their doomy dirges in with mid-paced death. On their sophomore outing, Melted and Decomposed, the band has upped to a full five-piece and further evolved sound. With this stylistic shift and three new members, it remains to be seen if Melted and Decomposed innovates or not.

Good death/doom needs to have the sound to back up the music, and here Melted and Decomposed excels at its soundscape. This album sounds monstrous, with a thick, buzzsaw guitar tone that serves the death and doom elements equally well. Drummer Agus alternates between fills and flourishes, as the death riffs allow him to show his chops in snare abuse and creative fills, while the doom passages shift him into the background. Vocalist Carlos adds heaps of atmosphere with his performance, alternating between gutturals and prolonged, vaguely blackened screeches that are drowned in reverb and always seem to be cutting through from the back of the mix. The whole package sounds foul and is a real treat for lovers of that vintage OSDM sound. This time, however, Sanctuarium has opted to separate the ingredients of death and doom and offer them up in alternating layers instead of a proper blending of sounds. As a result, this is a mixed bag of an album, with its core approach to songwriting proving to be its biggest stumbling block.

When Sanctuarium focuses on playing proper death metal, they sound properly infected. Their approach is at times beatdown heavy, such as the ending of “Exultant Dredges of Nameless Tombs,” which features some of the album’s most creative drumming over a riff that Bongripper would be proud of. Elsewhere, “Phlegmatic Convulsions” sports stank-face-inducing riffs that glide forward like tanks and sports a midsection that sounds pulled straight from the Coffins playbook of grooves. It is in such moments that Sanctuarium is at its most lethal. While never approaching anything that could be considered “technical,” the death portions of every cut never lack energy and zeal.

Where the album struggles is when the band brings the music to a screeching halt. With every song clearing a minimum mark of eight minutes, each contains multiple doom passages that teeter on funeral doom pacing–single-note, single-snare-hit dirges that derail the momentum of any song. This approach is pervasive throughout the album—groovy, catchy, wonderful death riffs suddenly interrupted without warning by brake-slamming, overly sustained chords (for especially egregious examples, check out “Abhorrent Excruciation in Reprisal” and “Sadistic Cremation of Emaciated Offal”) There is no build up to such moments—nor a cathartic explosion after them—instead, they are treated like an afterthought, as if the band remembered they needed to put doom into the album to adhere to their sound, before moving right along to the next death riff. Frustratingly, the final minutes of the closing track “The Disembodied Grip of Putrescence” even show the band suddenly grasping at the last moment how to make doom work to serve the song structure rather than the other way around. All too late, the writing proves capable, vindicating their sandwiching approach. Unfortunately, no other song manages this balance, and the doom elements commit the greatest crime in metal music: being boring.

Ultimately, Melted and Decomposed is a curious listen. I’ve never heard an album at once hit such delightful highs and experience such abysmal failings, and within the same song.1 The sound is excellent, the death metal elements strong, the atmosphere pervasive, and the doom doesn’t have to suck as hard as it does. Resuming the blended approach of their first album or improving the transitions and bridges between their divided song structures will let them unleash something truly putrid to the world on their next outing. Nevertheless, the death portions present an EP’s worth of genuine goodness, and lovers of all things audibly foul should investigate for themselves.

Rating: 2.0/5.0
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s CBR MP3
Label: Me Saco un Ojo Records
Websites: sanctuarium.bandcamp.com (old) | mesacounojo.bandcamp.com (current album)
Releases Worldwide: September 3rd, 2024

#20 #2024 #Bongripper #Coffins #DeathMetal #DoomMetal #MeltedAndDecomposed #OSDM #Review #Reviews #Sanctuarium #Sep24

#ThursDeath is a easy this week, as new SANCTUARIUM came out Tuesday. After repeatedly listening to it the last couple days, I can confirm 'Melted and Decomposed' is death doom at its finest. GREAT fast/slow dynamics & guitar work, and it sounds like it was recorded in a festering crypt. Just how I like it. For me, this is a contender for best metal record of 2024.

https://mesacounojo.bandcamp.com/album/melted-and-decomposed

#metal #DeathMetal #OSDM #Sanctuarium @HailsandAles @BlackenedGreen @wendigo @Kitty