review: Sempiternal Dusk

Sempiternal Dusk

Cenotaph of Defectuous Creation

Dark Descent Records

13 September 2019

Sound: Traditionalist, orthodox and conservative primal death metal heaviness that goes into segments of doom; thick, heavy, simplistic and primal death doom with background atmosphere (studio) and dark melodies. The band does launch into segments of intense speed in some segments.

Production: The production is thick and muddy and you can only hear things more clearly by turning up the volume to the max. Therefore, turn it up, way, way up.

Instrumentation: The thick grooving death metal guitar sound and the old-school brutal drumming create a big cloud of Pacific Northwest fog all over the album. This is not sophisticated virtuoso instrumentation, but do not be deceived. It takes experience to sound this way. This is not a low-skill, garage punk metal rehearsal cassette tape by youthful angry people. These are veterans of metal music.

Vocals: The growling is low and incomprehensible, like a monster speaking curses in a cave. There are some screams, but the vast majority is said type of growling.

Songs: If you stick around until your mind clears away some of the fog of the production, you are going to be surprised by how catchy the music is and by the extent of the melodies. Yes, melodies, and they are not ashamed to do them.

Lyrics: It is essentially impossible to figure out any intelligible words. The band, more than anything, wants mystery and obscurantism, and not necessarily to convey a religious-satanic nor a liberal-conservative political agenda.

Potential audience: Fans of old-school late 1980s and early 1990s death metal would understand this music quickly. Death doom fanatics in general will also understand this album.

Similar bands: Some old bands that have stepped into this territory are: 1993 Disenbowelment; 1989 Obituary; 1989/1991 Autopsy; 1991/1992 Asphyxiates; 1992 Cianide; 1992/1994 Incantation, and sounds that are in the same family as those bands. Of course, there are contemporary bands that sound somewhat similar, but for this music the band seems to prefer the old pioneers because they want to sound old, primal, and obscurantist.

Assessment: The album’s muffled production makes it a work almost exclusively for those already initiated into death doom, and for those new enthusiasts who have discovered their own fanaticism/fascination of death doom and are diving as fast possible into these styles in 2019. A candidate for a top ten spot in death doom in 2019?! Time for the zealots to sharpen their debating skills!

darkdescentrecords.bandcamp.com/album/cenotaph-of-defectuous-creation-2