I don’t know if it’s me and the failing eyesight process, or just the winter dark, but the purple on black script meant that I couldn’t read any of the lyrics or information on any of this otherwise nicely packaged album by Cultum Interitum. It’s very underground, I suppose, as is the fact that true to form the label issued it with minimal description: Black Metal, Poland. This band in fact is not unknown to me. I had the pleasure of reviewing Cultum Interitum’s 2021 release “Poison of Being”. Uncompromising, deathly, harsh, atmospheric … it was impressive. So here I was hoping for another round of “ominous and sepulchral hymns to death, destruction, chaos and misanthropy” as was the billing for “Poison of Being”.

I established from another source that the titles of the six pieces spell out SACRVM. It doesn’t matter really as it’s all about the atmosphere, I find. So give us an “S” and away we go with chasmic echoes and distant sounds of suffering. As intros go, it’s quite lengthy as we wallow in the murky underworld. Eventually there is an explosion and a merciless beat is played. Our warlord from the introductory section continues to echo. Amid heavy breathing, the guitar assault slows down. It’s not a nice place to be. Cue further explosiveness and we come to a temporary end. It’s temporary because we start where left off with blasting drums and echoing roars. The break is fleetingly brief, like a contractual obligation, because the assault is very much back on. It slows down again and we’re heading towards funereal doom, with torture included of course. It comes as no surprise when all hell breaks loose again, and so it ends.

The third piece starts in the vein of a funeral march. It ramps up, but what is ramped in among this blazing intensity is menace, and lots of it. The fourth piece “R” sounds like a representation of a blizzard. The drums blast as ever while the roaring echoes peer through the murky scene. The mood darkens, if that’s possible, before the guitar signals the next passage, raising the tension level before the punishment returns. We enter an obscure underworld with indistinct sounds to unsettle us, and this inconclusive way is how it ends. The storm rises and we are left on tenterhooks with the hanging riff before the tableau expands darkly, not I have to say going anywhere very much. The final piece “M” is upon us. It starts with obscure whisperings. This is a prelude to the torture chamber and the vivid image and sound of suffering in a musically doomy setting. The doomy tone continues in the background as the clouds thicken and a wall of heaviness prevails amid the threat and menace of the warlord on vocals.

“Sacrum Funeral” is fairly short but certainly not sweet. This is a malevolent world. Musically, it’s perhaps not the most original and stylistically it bounces around within the confines of black metal but there’s no lack of intensity as Cultum Interitum take us to some extremely dark and unwelcoming places.

(7/10 Andrew Doherty)

https://www.facebook.com/cultuminteritum

https://godzovwarproductions.bandcamp.com/album/sacrum-funeral