If you listened to this Danish bands debut album ‘Dolorous Death Knell’ from 2018 then you know that Sulphurous are one of the most horrifying death metal bands that has surfaced in recent years. Everything about that debut reeked of old school putridity but nothing can prepare you for the absolute maiming assault perpetrated by this sophomore. The opening intro section to ‘Emanated Trepidation’ has its own level terror but when compared to the unmitigated blurring annihilation of what follows you will feel like you’re being dissected from the inside out. With horrifying vocals every song sounds like the end of the world is upon us as the melodies are entrenched in gut disembowelling deathliness and with a production that is unbelievably colossal on all instruments, mixed to what I deem as utter perfection.

There are doom-death traits exhibited throughout as ‘Dry Breath Of The Tomb’ opens with creeping slowness and that sense of foreboding dread, that aura of terrible things about to be inflicted upon the world as the double bass crumbles your bones to an ancient powdery dust. The riff changes run riot, instilling that sense of variability but also that ethos of highly controlled chaos as the plunge to funereal tempo is punishingly placed. ‘Shadows Writhing Like Black Wings’ again has an eerie opening, morose cryptic piano leads the song in serenely before the expected speed explosion which cleaves off a few limbs when it does. Imbibed with their sense of melody the song utilises the tempo dynamics effectively and with the utmost cohesion as the splashes of crawling abyssal doom only enhance this songs penetration.

Having contracted covid recently I was listening to this album through a barrage of hot and cold sweats which for some reason, and weirdly, went hand in hand with the exceptional guttural ‘Eyes Glaring Black Fury’, its intensity peaking and plummeting, but nothing can prepare you for the monstrous drum work that batters through this song with an impact that is obliterating. Likewise, with the title track which brandishes a more upbeat riffing style but still saturated in malevolent density as the song reminded me of Incantation, Vastum and to some degree the really dense stuff that Morbid Angel have created.

With just six tunes on the album I have chosen to write about them all because each has its own layers of terror not present on others as the album closes with the exceptional ‘Gazing Into The Patch Of Darkness’, yes this band likes their long song titles as you’ve probably deciphered by now. With a brutality and grotesquery not witnessed on the previous five tracks the closer is inhuman, crashing cymbal work, barbaric monstrous vocals and a catchiness that belies the songs wounding speed and lacerating caustic guitar work before concluding with a creepy piano piece at the end.

Like my review of the recent Bizarre album this is an album death metal fans should get hold of, its archaic, musty deathly outpourings capture everything that is special about death metal. A staggering release from Sulphurous!

(9/10 Martin Harris)

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