#AlbumReview: Exhumation / Funeral Chant – Sacred Oath: Temple of Death
Bands: Exhumation / Funeral Chant
Album: Sacred Oath: Temple of Death
Label: Carbonized Records
Release date: April 03rd, 2026
Country: Indonesia / USA
Format reviewed: High-Quality Digital Recording
#AlbumReview: Exhumation / Funeral Chant – Sacred Oath: Temple of Death via Carbonized Records by Ioana
We wouldn’t be able to talk about albums without mentioning those bizarre, one off encounters with a record that tie in to a listening experience from years ago. This was the case of the split between Exhumation and Funeral Chant we now have at hand. I had listened to Exhumation one or two times around 2023, following the recommendation of an acquaintance, before they more or less faded out of focus, given that, at the time, I was trying to listen to as much music as possible, and it is more or less impossible to keep track of how every album sounds like when you listen to around 8 a day. All that being said, recently, as I was trying to update myself on the new releases of 2026, I ended up stumbling across “Sacred Oath: Temple of Death” while looking through a list of albums that had been released this year, and I more or less settled on this one because the first of the band names mentioned, that being Exhumation, seemed oddly familiar. Soon I found out that it was indeed “the” Exhumation which I had encountered previously, as I had no knowledge of the second band, Funeral Chant.
As far as the music is concerned, however… my expectations were fairly high going into this album, only to soon discover that it was very far from what I had initially imagined. From the title of the split alone, I thought I was in for a dense, heavily ritualized soundscape, with dynamic arrangements and all that entails. What I was presented with, however, at least on the Exhumation half of the split, was a moody, reverbed atmospheric black metal experiment with death metal influences that never really quite seemed to land as it should have. Initially, I thought that was only a matter of me listening to it with fresh ears, however, after multiple listens, I had to face the realization that it was certainly not the case. The production seemed to be thinning as the album progressed, and although there were certain moments of clear music prowess, mostly on tracks such as “Testimony of Fire” by Funeral Chant, the contributions of which were far more memorable on the split as a whole, there was still something that kept me from returning to this split the way I expected I would.
Now, the pleasant surprise regarding “Sacred Oath: Temple of Death”, is that it introduced me to the work of Funeral Chant. Their half of the split was without a doubt my favourite, and despite the production being as it was and my expectations being low following the Exhumation experience, I found myself pleasantly surprised by their songwriting efforts, and I have, since then, started looking into their other material, which I hope to have the time to check out soon. Stylistically, their contributions sit far closer to death metal, and even thrash to an extent, rather than classic style black metal, but truth being told, it fits the intended atmosphere much better.
All that being said, I had a bit of trouble actually coming up with anything meaningful to say regarding this album besides the previous note about Funeral Chant, given that it was so far off from both my alley and my expectations. However, for those who would be interested in a raw, atmospheric but also brutal release that is completely unconcerned with pleasantries, this may just be the album for you. After all, this is an incredibly subjective piece of writing… 7/10
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7/10: Victory is Possible!
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