Cambridge based Death Metal outfit Celestial Sanctuary are soon to release their second full length album ‘Insatiable Thirst for Torment’ on Church Road Records. The album offers listeners their usual brand of cavernous old school death metal, wearing their influences heavily on their Bolt Thrower long sleeves.
‘Trapped Within The Rank Membrane’ begins the album with a slow but driving riff ( reminiscent of IV Crusade era Bolt Thrower ), giving way into piercingly proficient lead guitar work. Immediately from the crispness of the drums and the the overall clarity of every instrument in the mix it is very apparent that the production of this album is a step up from 2021’s ‘Soul Diminished’. Something which their vocalist Tom expanded on the cleaner/ tighter production in our interview with him:
It’s just less reverb [laughs]…from a production point of view I’ve learned a lot more. I just took more time with it… it is a bit cleaner because I want people to be able to hear the riffs more and didn’t want my vocals drenched in so much reverb
“Meandering Stream of Foul Fluid’ creates an atmosphere of – to borrow a quote from Peepshow – “a powerful sense of dread”. The unsettling lead guitar cutting through the slow and swampy rhythm guitar gives the feeling you are meandering in the titular Stream of Foul Fluid.
A standout track for me was ‘Biomineralization (Death Cell)’. Which begins with putrid ambient noise which is broken by a barrage of drums, later complimented by some technical riffage. The song takes a turn into a more mid tempo stomper of a song that even as I’m sat in a coffee shop typing out this review I can’t help but nod along to.
For the sake of brevity I won’t do a track -by – track review but I will say that there is not a single weak song on the album ( all killer no filler ) and it very likely may be up there for my favourite death metal release of the year. The single ‘ Lurid Glow of a Dead, Burning Body’ is another standout for me too. For those who haven’t yet checked out Celestial Sanctuary I cannot recommend it more, for fans of old school death metal this album is a must buy!
‘Insatiable Thirst for Torment’ is out on Church Road Records August 25th! Check it out!
https://celestialsanctuary.bandcamp.com/album/insatiable-thirst-for-torment
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