Gored loose from the throat by barbarous finesse and harmonious ingenuity what flows from the damage done by this conspiratorial death/doom metal pairing runs thick and slow, easing away life unto a terrifying drain of hope from the eyes. ‘The Sempiternal Wound‘ pairs the emerging transcendental mastery of one with the boiling ambition of another, ensuring compatibility runs deeper than categorical sub-genre as a certain parity of inspiration creates spectacular morbidity and dramatism in each case. Both now rooted in the Barcelona, Spain area the ever-‘volving atmospheric death touch of JADE and the grotesque, ancient-minded death-doom of SANCTUARIUM provide eighteen minutes apiece wherein mournful nihil blackens the sight first and rot shocks the nostrils into convulsive panic second. While I will always have a favorite on any split release each of these bands bring something novel, or at least authentic, in its study to this substantial unearthly conjoinment.

Well hey, up front I won’t mince words too much: Jade are one of the most inspiring atmospheric death metal bands around today as we’ve had a couple of years to stew in the wake of their debut full-length album (‘The Pacification of Death‘, 2022), which I’d reviewed favorably, still in awe of the declarative expanse of their realm and the unique style they’d summoned from their chasmic sound and dramatic presentation. On that debut I’d referenced everything from early 90’s Tiamat to Bølzer in describing their unique diction and doomed pallor and as such expectations were set high for this next recording from the previously Germany and Spain split troupe. Since they’d taken a deeper step into their own beyond demo recordings in the years previous the root of my expectations were set on refinement, some general finesse of presentation and pace that comes with shared experience, but for these three songs it feels as if they’ve taken another similarly sized step.

When I premiere a song on this site I am typically either stoked about the album as a whole, a huge fan of the band(s) involved, or particularly like the song in question and while all of this was especially true when I’d had a chance to present “Cascade” a while back I was flabbergasted at how remarkably different it’d felt compared to past material. The main difference is of course in the warmed, more directly set melodic voicing of the guitar work where dual rhythmic function is harmonized down to the leads and the bittersweet melodic death/doom metal snap of the riffs is still primally death metal but reaches a sentimental, intoxicating stir as the big hook of the song lands as if pulled from the era of albums like ‘Gothic‘. Taken by itself “Cascade” is one of the most memorable songs I’ve heard all year but nestling it in between the more characteristic yet refined “Third Creation” and the similarly entranced barrage of harder edged riffs and clashing leads found within “Essential Formulas for Life Transition” all parts of Jade‘s collective Side A are resonant, unreal yet connective in a new way.

The main fellowe behind ‘old school’ influenced death/doom quartet (duo for this recording) Sanctuarium, Necrohelm, also served as drummer on the aforementioned ‘The Pacification of Death‘, so there is kinship and connection here as each band present themselves. Since I’ve very recently reviewed the band’s sophomore full-length album (‘Melted and Decomposed‘, 2024) you’ll also note there is a bit of early U.K. death/doom metal inspiration to be found in this band but moreso in combining the simply roughness of ‘Severed Survival’ with the despondent traditional doom infused saunter of early Cathedral and Paradise Lost‘s debut, extending those motif within two longform pieces that have a rumbling nigh funereal shape to their bounding kick.

Cavernous and deeply underground in their rawed-up ways you’ll get a bit more of the band’s first LP sound on “Recomposition of Carbonized Corpses” where they start out sounding like an old Rippikoulu demo by way of primitive riffs and Eldritch Finndeath step. This slow extension of a very simple beat in between sombre, slow-driven funereal doom metal riffs might seem dryly basic to start but the greater effect of the song and the band’s general taut handle upon classic sounds will inevitably charm within repeat listens; With “Malodorous Osteophagy in Acrimony” the guttural barbarian arises with a bit more presence as this song clubs out a more surreal, ghastly thrum within their basement level haze. The sprawl of this song takes its time developing as they lead into the more melodic, funeral death/doom metal tipped endpoint of the song and this is probably where we get the most impressive spirit of the band encapsulated. While I would say there was slightly more polish to Sanctuarium‘s second album these songs might be a proper gateway to additional possibilities, and either way they show their gig is more than just ‘old school’ references but also a knack for actual doom metal riff enhanced death metal with a mind for presenting spectacle and subterranean-set wonder.

At roughly ~38 minutes in length and with equal runtime on each side ‘The Sempiternal Wound‘ is a substantial split EP comprised of music which feels specifically intended for this collaborative showing and does appear as a bin for leftovers based on the considerable strength of each band. On one hand we have Jade reaching this amazing peak resonance, a song which has been a worm-in-ear for months on my part, and in the other hand we have Sanctuarium breathing death’s deep-set underground stench and while they are inhabiting two very different realms if we were to shove both bands back in time into the context of say, 1992, they would make sense on the same bill. For my own taste all it took was “Cascade” for this LP to become essential but I’d also admired the cover artwork by Mors Ultima Ratio Art as it gives us the face of death down to the stone-carved wrinkles as well as the underworld below, doing well to represent the onus of this record’s effect when played in succession. A high recommendation.

---