Catacomb Ventures – May Onslaught Edition
After a lengthy absence, Sepulcrustacean returns with 10 obscurities old and new.
Crazer (Russia)
Oderint Dum Metuant
2001 | Fatal Forum
I’ll be the first to criticize the melodic death subgenre and other attempts at making “extreme” takes on classic metal practices. Most of these reheat their ’80s inspirations into a tepid mush devoid of their passion and idiosyncrasy. Usually this is solved by hewing closer to genuine extremity but in a few select cases the divide can become the strength. Crazer are even more overt about their semi-power metal elements than the Gothenslop of the ’90s, hook-heavy songs and crunch-happy melodies, but they differ in taking a more off-kilter perspective. The closest to this wouldn’t be Slaughter of the Soul (thankfully) but something like Fatal’s A Somber Evocation of Nihilism, late ’80s Helstar, and Coroner. It’s an album or demo that doesn’t seem to have emerged from any one particular lineage, casually mixing and matching with an impressive sense of intuition.
The band utilizes highbrow “neoclassical-”sounding melodies rendered through elaborate fretboard pirouetting, often with a tech-thrash undercurrent. Catchy riffs are aplenty but just as they might settle into a routine, sudden deviations from pop-single structures emerge. Blast beats frequently interrupt the pacing while melodies abruptly condense into single-string tremolo bursts, while the melodies themselves have this haughty, almost waltz-like character to them. It has a technical or progressive slant but this is subservient to high energy delivery, yet it’s convoluted in a way that would have been anathema to the pedal-riff fare of its era. The almost early black metal raw production isn’t very easy on the ears but it’s an appropriate fit for the very specific branch of old school eclecticism on display. It’s not at all inaccessible if you can get past that hurdle, offering an alternate take on the idea of melodic death metal. It’s arguably at least half heavy/power/thrash but with a vivid execution devoid of the mechanical sterility that plagues the majority of its Sweden-worshipping compatriots.
Sancticide (Canada)
Ritualistic Homicides Deifying Death
2025 | Independent
Rumbling and rotting as if erupting from burial grounds, Sancticide sounds like hearing death metal for the first time. A short horror movie sample leads into a fly-cloud buzz of dense guitar over stomping drums broken up by near-arbitrary blasts with snare cutting through the miasmatic haze. A sonorous growl, cold and dispassionate, narrates the carnage with bass peeking out from within the claustrophobic mix. It’s viscerally satisfying in a way that evokes the busiest moments of Cannibal Corpse and Morpheus Descends in their heyday. It is an unambiguously oldschool and specifically American sound but underneath its throwback appeal is a deceptive cunning woven into what appears random and scattershot from a skim. While the blurry guitar production suggests cavernous murk-worship, this ends up becoming a springboard for an unusually complex listen.
Walls of almost throwaway chord-churn frequently morph with sudden jagged rhythms ready to interject at the slightest sign of getting comfortable, working in simple melodies and foretelling shifts in theme. The rhythm section is impressive if understated; a steady stream of plunking bass harmonies reinforcing abrupt drum patterns finding little pockets for skittering fills and almost whisper-like cymbal accenting. Tons of thematic variation transpires but it never pulls them out of a hat with the amorphous aesthetic tying a variety of themes together into a handful of threads. The sound is almost early brutal death metal, but it’s defined by an unusual agility and a deliberation in songwriting deliberately calculated in such a way it accounts for much of its intense atmosphere. It’s familiar if you’ve done your homework but well studied enough to ace the exams, punching well above what its stylistic weight class suggests.
Funeral of the Sun (Ukraine)
The Enchanted Forests of Autumn
2007 | Independent
These Ukrainians get all of funeral doom’s hallmarks checkmarked but bend them at enough funny angles that it becomes a shambling mutant when placed next to them. The grainy production and scraping, grating guitar tone immediately intensifies the no less blunt Celtic Frosted riffing. Meanwhile, their melodies meander typically into uncomfortably dissonant resolutions. Drumming is also unusually considered, programmed to augment guitar from the timing of snare hits to the active double kick, giving it an extra punch. Even the sporadic keyboards have this dreamy if amusingly cheap PS1-era character to them, draping specific portions in a surreal lo-fi ambience. Vocals are barely processed and can fluctuate between a deeper death metal growl and some kind of clumsily blackened rasp, somewhat amateur yet adding to the off-kilter character.
“Rivers of Silence” is initially led by a swaying, almost waltzy keyboard line that just goes on and on without comfortably concluding, supported by deep gothy vocals, though by the end it explodes into dual guitar harmonies over ringing chords. “To Fall Into the Arms of Madness” has a strangely catchy, almost hard rocking stuttering verse that gets interrupted by keyboard-lead bridges that sound like JRPG cutscene music, just with lumbering chords layered beneath the piano tones. Not long after is an abstract noisy bridge of all kinds of sampling or guitar effects that almost goes completely off of the rails, to say nothing of the dungeon synth parts that come after. “Under the Foliage” starts with outright barbaric riffing, almost moshy by the halfway point. By the final quarter, we’ve got these baroque-sounding melodies from guitar-keyboard interplay in stark contrast to that. It sounds like it was made by subgenre diehards who missed more than a few memos about how it had developed since the early ’90s and I mean that as a huge compliment.
Acid Age (UK)
Perilous Compulsion
2025 | The Distortion Project
Irreverent and eclectic, Acid Age’s follow-up to 2022’s Semper Pessimus only goes further into their playful take on thrash or “war-jazz” as they call it. Fusion plays a huge part in their sound, coming out especially strong in the soloing and the bass guitar. They skew nearer to the boundary where this genre starts turning into early (tech) death though Atheist or Revocation this is not. Instead of the cold sci-fi atmosphere often associated with this style, there’s a playful and even kind of punky energy to it—opener “Bikini Island” contrasts its double-kick augmented riffing with some oddly rocking upper register playing. Vocalist/guitarist Jude McIlwaine’s soloing is where this eclecticism is most apparent, often taking on a sprawling series of winding patterns often relaxed or meditative in compared to their frenetic attack. His vocal performance is a nasty, wet snarl but on a track like “State Your Business,” some kinda alt-rock-ish singing pops up out of nowhere, right after some truly demented riffing.
If you haven’t already guessed, songwriting is as much a core strength as their chops. Every song has some kind of out-of-the-blue segment to contrast the vicious thrashing, not quite avant-garde just yet, to say nothing of the incredible soloing. They’re not afraid to draw these out but these aren’t just James’ moments to shine. The rhythm section of Jake and Iran carefully play into the wild energy, carefully shifting the rhythmic topography with meditative basslines and sauntering across the kit, drawing the band into more abstract territory. The bread and butter of the band isn’t any less satisfying and comparisons to Voivod are inevitable with a lot of the stranger, trippy phrasings that pop up. At the same time, this is a band vicious at times to a Sadus-like degree, using the subgenre’s raw energy as a springboard to stranger domains it doesn’t often tread. I hope they can push that proggy side even further, maybe even pull something similar as Vorbid’s sophomore. Their thrash is incredible but there’s frequent hints at something even further out there nestled within.
Azeroth (Russia)
Doctrine of Dark Forest
1998 | Manimal Productions
I don’t know how popular Warcraft was in the chaos of ’90s Russia but enough for a fairly eclectic black metal duo to reference. The most immediate part of Azeroth’s sound that sticks out is the prominence of the bass guitar, frequently sneaking in various harmonies. The drumming is programmed but filled with a good deal of little details here and there. It’s complex without coming off as “technical.” The heart of it is “neoclassical-” sounding tremolo patterns with a stately air backed up by choice synths and occasionally ominous, looming chords. It feels kinda folky, symphonic, meloblack but never entirely beholden to any one particular style. They have some grandiose intervals that evoke the first but not consistently while the keyboards never get super prominent. There are some incredible melodies on display though they’re not as heavily harmonized, more Emperor-like, and lacking the death metal roots of Dawn (Sweden) and Mork Gryning, coming off as more convergent evolution if anything.
The end result is a multifaceted listen heavy with a romanticized atmosphere but one based in very grounded musicianship. The constant interaction of the rhythm section against the guitar with occasional keyboard harmony give it a densely layered if still smoothly flowing sound that can switch up frequently across the runtime. The 10-minute title track features a particularly memorable, almost ambling bass riff mutating beneath an interplay of undulating chords and tremolo strum lines. “Museum of Greatness” is the closest to Sweden with its lengthy melodic lines tastefully varying themselves throughout its length with keyboards taking on a more ghostly character. “In The Circle Of Swamps – Part I” winds its way through a descending main riff that leads into doomy escapade, led by haunting keyboard lines, vanishing as a fleeting dream before the aggression kicks back in. An album that evokes haunted ruins and the wraith-guarded forests that surround them.
Storm Death (Chile)
Chaos Will Reign!
2025 | Suicide Records
With cover art resembling what Warhammer 40000 would look like if it was themed far more heavily after Ancient Egypt (not just for the necrons), Storm Death’s sophomore is out for blood from the get-go. Ancient Premonitions of the Gods had a methodical Blessed are the Sick-reminiscent approach and it’s tempting to say this is the band’s streamlined Covenant. It is an even thrashier and nastier listen but if anything, they’ve gotten even more complex as the 10-minute opener makes clear. Nile-inspired exotic scales are out in full force but within the context of a band that would be more at home sharing a set with Sadistic Intent and Cruciamentum. The drumming becomes more full-steam-ahead by comparison to the debut but Anal Breaker (what a name) is not any less prone to wild Sandoval-esque drum fills and ritualistic patterning for the slower, even regal portions of the album. He already did an all-timer performance back in 2019 and the 6-year gap has only seen him push himself further.
They have even added some exotic folky interludes with Dead Can Dance flavor at a few points. It doesn’t take up a huge amount of the album’s runtime though and they aren’t turning into a snooty prog band either. Breakneck energy and rhythmic militancy but with moments of pseudo-symphonic grandeur and an ear for atmosphere of a newer act. Repetition is notable but used as a passageway to and from contrasting themes, looping in and out of an established idea as a jumping off point. Songs build up to or sharply contrast verses with exuberant solos and regal marching portions, giving the album a film score’s sense of grandiosity. It is more complex than its predecessor though it works in very broad strokes, avoiding proggy elaboration for simply long songs with violently ripping fury. Visceral at heart and hearkening back to the ambitions of their Floridian predecessor, it’s unambiguously old school but it is so without dialing it in for cavernbro mosh or atmospheric muddle.
Estatic Fear (Austria)
Somium Obmutum
1996 | CCP Records
“Opeth is nice and all but I don’t think their music is complex enough.” Dropping the same year as Morningrise, it’s hard not to feel as if they were trying to one up their Swedish counterparts. The bulk of the album is contained on a 36 and an 18-minute track with a pair of non-metal folk/acoustic tracks serving as intro and outro. Just like that era of Opeth, its musical DNA is mostly British in the Peaceville doom sense. The Austrians are closer to their source material, from the funeral procession tempos to atmospheric keyboards to the riffing being less acrobatic but more sombre as a whole. They aren’t afraid to be much more aggressive as well with a few moments of notable blasting and even tremolo-picked patterns that would not be out of place in A Canorous Quintet or Dissection’s hands. It’s simultaneously primitive yet ambitious, definitely dorky (the dungeon synth-y tones sound like lost CRPG OSTs), but no less magical for it. You might need two bags of popcorn.
Did I mention the clean interludes by the way? That’s another area they decide that more is more and more is good. It’s not just acoustic guitars but full-on medieval melodies, flutes, keyboard swells and for far longer. They don’t drop into them as suddenly as Opeth, often leading into them with a pause after finishing up a metallic portion, but they tend to go through multiple movements and often drop vocals. If you didn’t like that part of those proggers, it doesn’t vanish here. I will say that Estatic Fear do a better job of payoff with their comparatively forceful delivery, allowing for sharper contrasts assisted by a fuller, pseudo-symphonic sound. If you can stomach absurd song lengths and numerous shifts between medieval-classical-folk whatever and forcefully sombre metal, you might find maybe a little too much to enjoy on this titanic middle-of-the-’90s monument.
Death Pulsation (Sweden)
Demo
2025 | Caligari Records
Maddening violence revealing immaculate precision; Death Pulsation’s debut hearkens back to the flashpoint intensity of Necrovore albeit filtered through the blackened prism of Degial. Fast, raw tremolo riffing and a howling, blackened growl roar out behind a stampede of double-kicks and blast riffing. It’s almost a blur on first listen but Death Pulsation is a band guided by melody primarily, almost like Oakland’s Funeral Chant circa their first demo. What initially appears as a bestial rush of grinding chromatic chords deliberately morphs to reveal and augment elongated melodies. The riffing plays off of these variations in a theme, almost melding riffing into one another while careful harmonies and abrupt shifts in phrasing let them fold into the barbaric attack. The production is just raw enough to let a mixture of drums and lower register riffing create a foggy wall but out of which, upper register melodies pierce with judgemental, piercing clarity.
It is a very deliberate sound, far less confusing than it initially seems, but no less spirited in how clearly it goes for the throat. It is a very old school sound as well, hearkening back to something older and far less definite in shape than the typical Incantation/Entombed/Autopsy/Bolt Thrower types. As such, a healthy chunk of it is adjacent to black metal (unsurprising given the background of the musicians). Granted, this manifests moreso in its aesthetic qualities; the constant pulse of its layered riffing and its moments of raw hurricane-wind texture, rather than full on Mayhem or Sarcofago portions. It lends a particularly sinister atmosphere, one malicious yet cunning, observant and baleful that drapes the three-track demo in an air of malevolence chilling in how strategic it is. If you enjoy the more intricate and clearly structured takes on this style in the vein of recent Ascended Dead and Mexico’s Tempest, this is another band showcasing a lot of the same precision albeit in a more melodic form.
Mutant (UK)
The Awakening Conscience
1991 | Independent
I read that this British band played death-doom which didn’t turn out to be wrong but it wasn’t entirely right either. How many bands in this subgenre can you name that will quote Atheist? While their compatriots were going for Candlemass-esque angular sorrow, Mutant were apparently attempting to create doom-death through… tech thrash? They are comfortable at slower tempos, but skanks and blast beats are not uncommon, neither are the guitar flourishes and fancy kit work. Granted I wouldn’t really put them in the same category as the previously mentioned Floridians; the end result is closer to uh, I guess a tech-thrash infused version of Vital Remains’ Let Us Pray I guess? It’s not even an avant-garde sound but it is so oddly specific it’s hard to find easy comparisons, probably too idiosyncratic to have ever gained much of a following in the rapidly changing early ’90s.
Regardless of how you classify them, The Awakening Conscience still sounds fresh today. It’s elaborate in a way that evokes the progressive aspirations that were creeping into thrash in the wake of 1986. That thrash energy is present even in its slower portions, but it’s tempered by death metal’s grime and murk in drilling tremolo riffing that directly condenses elaborate melodies. Song structures are puzzle-shaped structurally and stylistically, jumping between three very different styles. It would be fair to call it conflicted but this naturally lends well to impressive variety within the three tracks as well as a very particular atmosphere. It’s not quite sociopolitical rebellion, morbid obsessiveness, or sheer pessimism—paranoid is how I’d describe it, unsettled, anxious even. Fitting given the subgenre merry-go-round and it makes the idea of an alternate “tech-doom-death-thrash” populated future all the more irresistible.
Necropolis (Indonesia)
Secular Circumambulation
2025 | Independent
Whereas most of their fellow countrymen are brutally slamming away, Necropolis dwells in occult territories with fellow Indonesians Deathroned (see their last EP) and Nokturnal (previously Nocturnal Kudeta). It’s death metal, at least partially, almost in the vein of the more melodic, longer trem riff-focused Necrovore style bands like Funeral Chant and Death Pulsation. The other half is black metal of a first wave inspired stripe, with recent Predatory Light and Negative Plane’s heavy metal histrionics and ’70s psychedelic touches worked into a furiously aggressive form. Clean guitars pop up frequently as do more gently picked, cleaner harmonies but not so much for frequent “clean sections” but layered into its metallic fury. It never feels too rocky or single-friendly simply because it doesn’t separate these aspects of its sound from the core black-death focus of sole musician Molasar.
Said focus is often on lightning-fast blast beats and clawing tremolo patterns, with the level of aggression frequently not unlike an Angelcorpse-style band. Rhythmic bludgeoning is avoided and Molasar’s guitar technique is both impressively agile and with a great deal of harmony involved. The occult atmosphere pervading the album deepens alongside its melodies whether through layered tremolo patterns or gently unfurling arpeggios and cleanly played guitar, or a combination of them really. The effect conveys a sense of the occult that is atmospheric yet still grounded in a metallic approach out of which it extends rather than juxtaposes against. It’s feverish and often furious, with “Parallel Penumbrae” being the only song present without any blasts and uniformly midtempo in pacing. The two other metal tracks do not suffer at all for their relentlessness, cohesively warping lengthy passages into a unified sense of theme and mood that only intensify their nocturnal mystery the further they rush into the foggy depths.
Cover image is by Dongbiao Lu.
