Wraithlike in its solemn wander through the ruined architectural apex of civilization the beauteous yet destructive waft of Turku, Finland-based melodic black/death metal quintet Sepulchral Curse sets the mind alight at the black-radiant tip of the otherwise brutal, forceful ‘old school’ death metal sorcerer’s stave on this second full-length album. Presenting the agreed-upon peak of civilized extreme metal at its most actively concerted, ‘Abhorrent Dimensions‘ attempts to round-out the permutation frenzy beyond the late 80’s hammer of extremity and the sophistication of the lost-and-found mid-90’s idyll through their own empyrean swerve and a blunt, horrified voice. Cast downward as scalding judgement upon that which has already been damned by time and nuclear dust, expect these ruminations to both punish and delight by the dramatic breath of an intelligent beast-mind, a showing of violence and romanticist tact in full skin-rippling flex n’ carve.

Sepulchral Curse formed ten years ago with deepest ties to melodic death metal projects in the mid-to-late 2000’s, some later-on activity in unique doom spawn Yawning Void, and featuring the impressive vocalist from Solothus, who’ve recently split-up to offer better focus to life and well, other projects such as this one. The way I’ve seen the band’s approach and intent over the years has been holistic in the sense that it must check a couple tiers of boxes before making the cut, starting with a strong compositional aptitude with both technical and melodic intent intertwined into otherwise ‘old school’ tipped and distinctly European death metal which has warmed to a blackened sense of melodicism beyond their most formative works. This means both Finnish death metal (such as apex order Demigod, ‘North From Here‘-era Sentenced) and Swedish death metal (Svensson penned At the Gates, ‘The Somberlain‘) are where they appear to have built the foundation for style with dual-voiced rhythm guitar arrangements and sophisticated songwriting that aligns with a certain classic thread of black and death metal. This was merely the launching pad for their gig and not the stark end result as we gather precedence for the evolved format of their debut LP (‘Only Ashes Remain‘, 2020) which’d been a difficult release to write about since it’d done so many things well, and perhaps did too many things well enough that it was initially difficult to focus within the overflowing weight of their ideas.

Their cursed mirror, a pool on a pedestal. — In parsing the fleet-fingered dual guitar attack, the thrashing kick, and the technical-yet-melodic edge of Sepulchral Curse folks have compared ’em most astutely to Sulphur Aeon and Lantern in the past yet I’m not so sure those references are either that far off or necessarily complete. What remains interesting to me as an observer of metal fandom’s perception and capacity for association is that there are no obvious telegraphs from these Finns up front (aesthetically speaking) and it seems that everyone who approaches their music becomes lost in the woods of wonderment, hearing something different in their wizarding sound, leaving the perception of the band prismatic enough to warrant comparisons which are at times almost comically out of left field (re: Nunslaughter, Mitochondrian, Deathchain). What this does say about the band is that they’ve so many colors to work with and influences that they’ve connected with that the end result creates their own shade beyond the most typical grays and greens. There is something unique yet indeterminate about their work which folks gaze into differently, gathering asynchronous observations depending on how long they stare.

‘Only Ashes Remain‘ seemed to use thrash metal braced death metal as its locus not only for its driving pace and technical intricacies, which’d verged on progressive death metal often enough in terms of interplay, but also for its phrasal glue set between realms of black metal’s stabbing dementia and death metal’s morbid obsession with full-bodied brutality. This second album will feel like a step up from the last but with a somewhat different voice, still parsing its conversation between melodic black/death and the true canon of 90’s death metal but resolving each with their flair for the dramatic per a wide-angled lens set presentation. Of course if you are looking for the waltzing, dual guitar majesty of the last record it is certainly here, in fact they might’ve reinforced the contrasting focus of their signature by only focusing on one vocal type, leaning away from the more fraught technical edge of their rhythms and presenting bigger strokes this time around. — If that first record is your best point of expectation built I don’t think you’ll be burnt, though the right panoptic angle to view ‘Abhorrent Dimensions‘ from is the impressive ‘Deathbed Sessions‘ mLP from 2022 which sets more direct precedence for the shift in voicing though the backing vocals from now former drummer Tommi Ilmanen no longer feature on the next logical step the bands evolution, the ‘Howl of the Cursed‘ demo/single. Perhaps the biggest point of change for the band since their second EP, ‘Abhorrent Dimensions‘ features new drummer Johannes Rantala who fills those shoes brilliantly with a decidedly different sense of flourish but a style well enough in line with past works.

Melodious and suitably dramatic in stature yet capable of sticking to the riff-as-the-heart of the experience, ‘Abhorrent Dimensions‘ is an immediately strong yet vexingly detailed follow-up which shows their full range of abilities amplified by way of wrangling and reigning into reasonably read statements rather than exaggerated into twitching mush. The experience offers a continuous stream of thought, a readily jumped into conversation that is easier to follow along with and in turn tells a more complete story in terms of its presentation, remaining approachable throughout its brutal and oft confrontational rhythmic onus. The first couple of pieces on the record are intended as not only a showcase of energy but a vacuum of momentum which finds its basal speed and furor first before modulating from that point for the duration of the full listen; Though those introductory pieces count towards the whole the record takes its first surprising turns nearby the “Among the Wretched Columns”, taking us beyond the progressivisms of mid-transformation “we’re not black metal”-era Aeternus towards the cyclone of the modern atmospheric death metal medulla. When cut down to its creeping guitar progression and its finger-bent count this piece is as much a horror melody fit for a Finndeath band circa ’93 as it is a tumultuous rapture only possible beyond the late 90’s fusion of black metal voicing into the stunted vernacular of traditional death metal. One could point to briefly to Immolation or (again) Demigod vaguely but theirs is a body better likened to the blackened heft of Lie in Ruin or the increasingly atmospheric pulls of Desolate Shrine as it reveals. Stepping into “Graveyard Lanterns” this thought holds up for a moment as the piece builds towards its otherwise glowing-odd drift which reinforces the sense that Sepulchral Curse are compatriot to Finnish death metal but not squarely the old rotten stuff and the rest of the record will further drive home this point.

With “Stagnant Waters” we are just as quickly swept back beneath the percussive pummel of their gig but not before the song opens with a riff which uses its layers of rock-studded and tremolo’d riffs to present movement which is almost ‘Heartwork‘-esque in its self-folding dirge, an early 90’s melodic death styled groove. The piece ultimately reaches a point of sympathy, or, release where the mind is cast adrift within some manner of cataclysmic event between the strong nigh prog-death leads which narrate the direction of the fracas back toward the composition, perhaps their most Sulphur Aeon feeling moment overall but also a breath of fresh air feeding the siphon that is the second half of the album; Side B is undoubtedly the point where we can feel the strain of self control as these songs do their best to remain contained within the ~5-6 minute death metal song structure, bursting at the seams in terms of how big Sepulchral Curse are swinging toward the grand finale of the album with some of the most stunning, ear-gripping pieces on the full listen. Having already proven this album worthy successor and vision beyond the last at this point I was sated but not prepared for the infectious bounding riff which builds and bursts within the first half of “Burial of Souls”, this is perhaps where the feeling of other modern higher-standard Finnish black/death bands applies most clearly as a simple-but-effective arrangement which presents its cannon fire up front and resolves the impact in the second half with the pyre-dancing solve at around ~4:23 minutes in. This piece is maybe a testament to how ‘Abhorrent Dimensions’ creates a more entertaining full listen by not crowding every piece with ten riff ideas and interruptive moments, as much as I did like their approach on the prior LP.

“Through Abhorrent Dimensions” is the rare case of a closer which is as strong as its opening piece, perhaps the strongest song overall on the full listen, which feels conclusory for its thrashing and crawling-forth old school death metal riffcraft, blasting force, and brief points of respite along the way which steady the passage through the portal back home. They’ve considered the loop of the full listen here to some degree and it shows as a point of mastery that the beginning and the end compound into one great speed-boosting ring for returning to the cycle; It’d taken at least five or so full listens before I had designs on the greater shape of ‘Abhorrent Dimensions‘ and for sure the last few pieces helped to put the reach of the album into perspective but in that space of time it didn’t necessarily reach a point of catchy, unforgettable rapture beyond the thickened tone and exciting dynamic motion allowed per their unique black/death metal admixture. There were some obvious highs along the way and most of them were a riff here and there, strong transitional moments and deepened contrast in whatever atmosphere might develop within each song.

From my point of view the narrative bent of the prior album is likewise here but becomes most clear in its guidance of the ear beyond the third or so piece and the last four songs present chapters of a story which either shifts perspective depending on the moment or intends standalone pieces which never read as loose shards of the same idea. The main point to make is that the density of ideas is just right for this style and Sepulchral Curse are at their most focused and viably melodious on this second LP. It’d impressed me from the first listen and sustained me well beyond the fifteenth or so before I’d had to move on. The colorful textured layers and burning portal to another realm depicted in the cover artwork from Mark Erskine seems like a lot to take in at first but it fits the sort of modern, melodic yet dense and occasionally technical illustrative language of the band since its details are at times obsessive and blurred by their frequency yet the greater picture is always in view and always impressive. A high recommendation.

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