I love Finnish death metal, anything from Krypts, Desolate Shrine, Kalmah, Insomnium, and Mors Principium Est to what it appears to be now a Finnish extreme metal band to be looking for is Sepulchral Curse and their debut full-length from Transcending Obscurity Records titled Only Ashes Remain. Take a hybrid of both death metal and black metal reminiscing of Sulphur Aeon, Nunslaughter, and Dismember but in a occultist, mysticism and death oriented style of death and black metal. For a debut full-length released through Transcending Obscurity Records this year, this release is well worth the wait and I can honestly say without shadow of a doubt, the best and most well produced, polished and creative album’s I’ve heard in the Finnish death metal world in such a long period of time.
This album is complex, diverse, polished and musically speaking this is the band’s most tightest material to date. Their musical compositions and deadly assaults of harsher, thicker and clogged instrumentals is something you don’t usually hear that often but Sepulchral Curse does it magnificently well. From the sheer brutality of Maan Tuhkien Uneen, Into the Depths Unknown, Dead Stars Drawing Spirals and the opening track of From Within the Bowels of the Earth to the monstrous arrangements of blistering guitar tones, perfected bass structures and consolidated vocals this is nothing but short, sweet, and beyond exhilarating. Not only their songs draw attention and creating opposite tones to retain such brilliancy and building up suspense, but the arrangements, signature’s and instrumentation work is beautifully well written and that is something most bands coming out of Finland are specialized in.
These Finnish musicians not only found themselves how to create their own craft but the admiration and high levels of astonishing lyricism are surely but carefully keep the genre much more stylistic and creative to make Only Ashes Remain a fantastically well driven album, but once you hear this album prepare to strap yourselves into a universe so dynamically generated you’ll be connected into the steadiness of telekinesis and the band’s tendency for old school death metal has never sounded so authentically well done.
Overall Score: 9.5/10
Review by Jake Butler
