Sempiternal Dusk – Cenotaph of Defectuous Creation

Band: Sempiternal Dusk
Title: Cenotaph of Defectuous Creation
Label: Dark Descent Records
Release date: 30 August 2019
Country: USA
Format reviewed: High-Quality Digital Promo

SEMPITERNAL DUSK are hailing from Portland, Oregon, and the band has been active since 2014. What about the current complete line-up? Lots of interesting links and participation in other bands. It is definitely important to start with TC on drums and vocals in Sepmpiternal Dusk, who is also part of MOURNFUL CONGREGATION, NIGHTFELL (which released a monstrous record in the mid-September), THE HOWLING WIND, WEREGOAT, THE WEREWOLVES, TERROR OATH etc.  VB on guitars (ALDEBARAN, BLACK WITCHERY, WEREGOAT, VASSAFOR – live) is also supporting NIGHTFELL in their live shows. JH (guitars) is part of THE WEREWOLVES and TG (bass) is playing in SHROUD OF THE HERETIC. SEMPITERNAL DUSK’s first album was released in 2014 and since then the band had only split albums hitting the world. Until this very moment, when “Cenotaph of Defectuous Creation” came out.

Only by saying Portland, Oregon, you probably already know what to expect. However SEMPITERNAL DUSK exceeds these expectations by far. Those 6 tracks (incl. an intro and an interlude track) represent 36 minutes “of pummeling mid-tempo death played with intent and a disdain for modern ‘death metal’ cliche”. It’s primitive heavyweight death metal with heavyweight doom suppressing atmosphere. From the very first tune of “Excavated Filth from Dimensional Incarnations” the band bury us deep under the ground, and the smell of rotten soil easily can be felt around. The riffs and the hallucinating lead work is superb. And I’m not exaggerating here – it is hit in the guts guitar work, especially over mid-paced drum tempo, which creates unique crushing and wiping out vibe. In “Orgiastic Feast Upon Martyred Flesh” the band speeds up the tempo a lot in the middle of the track before bringing back the heavy weigh mid-tempo pummel, and then you know – it is already late to return; you have been buried alive. My favorite track is definitely “Retracted Suffering  Through the Windows of Hell”. It begins funeraly solemn before to explode into glorious death metal track, reminding me for the finest classics from the beginning of the 90. The tempo here is literally devastating with vibes of the Swedish-OSDM-meets-Florida-DM, memories from my childhood which could never be forgotten. And that short murky solo and heavy bassline…The album finishes with another graveyard procession hit “Spears of Pestilence”. What instantly hits is the haunting and hallucinating lead guitar (I already wrote about some examples in my previous reviews).

The other facts around “Cenotaph of Defectuous Creation” are that the album was recorded and mixed at The Autopsy Room and mastered by Dredged Oblivion. It also features new artwork by D.Desecrator. The most important for me is music though. The tracks just encompass vast territories from the present and the past of the death metal, featuring the best of the modern murky, swampy, pummeling death metal with links and roots to the best of the OSDM. SEMPITERNAL DUSK did one of the finest death metal albums released in 2019, overtaking some of the most critically acclaimed and beloved bands in this area. This is a mandatory record, a real beast from the pit. Listen to it, otherwise the “Cenotaph of Defectuous Creation” will include your name. 9/10 Count Vlad

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9/10 Epic Storm
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