Sulphur Aeon – Seven Crowns and Seven Seals (Ván Records)
Wednesday, 11th October 2023
For the decade of 2010, it’s difficult to find a band devoted to incredibly high quality death metal than Sulphur Aeon. The trio of albums released since their inception display a confident group who have an ability to conjure prodigious Lovecraftian death metal overflowing with swaths of atmosphere and more menacing riffs than one can shake a Cthulu tentacle at. Gateway to the Antisphere will always have a place amongst the best death metal albums in the long storied history of the style for this writer, and 2018’s The Scythe of Cosmic Chaos is there beside it, showcasing an organic expansion of their patented immersive soundscapes, possibly being the best album released in that year.
Now five years down the road, Sulphur Aeon has emerged from the depths with Seven Crowns and Seven Seals in tow. Immediately, the striking artwork by Paolo Girardi portrays a grotesque river of oozing cosmic nihilism – perfectly befitting of their menacing sound. Diving into the album, we’re greeted with the ominous intro “Sombre Tidings” to set up the dizzying vibrant array of riffs and darkness that is “Hammer from the Howling Void.” Bleakness dominates, amplified by brilliantly vast melodies amongst vocalist M.’s cavernous growls and chilling chants.
“Usurper of the Earth and Sea” haunts via subtle layers of slow clean guitar passages, filled in with slick blackened tremolos and gargantuan rhythmic pummelings. Psychedelic lead guitars to bring a hypnotic element to aid the completion of this maze of unrelenting death metal, which can also be heard within the nightmarish “The Yearning Abyss Devours Us” and its prophetic clean vocalizations. The monolithic finisher that is “Beneath the Ziqqurats” emits a progressively increasing tension, culminating the album with some of the most poignant guitar work that A. and T. have recorded thus far in Sulphur Aeon’s illustrious catalogue.
The most notable entry on Seven Crowns and Seven Seals is indeed the title track; a collaboration with Michael Zech and Laurent Teubl (both of Chapel of Disease fame – a fantastic death metal project that’s sadly on hiatus). This song ebbs and flows from the melodious to the chaotically crushing, wrapped in a perilous ambiance. The cleanly chanted chorus is powerful and the guitar work particularly mesmerizing, all encompassed by an overall feeling of dread which demands to be experienced.
Sulphur Aeon paints an unmistakably gruesome, near flawless enveloping portrait of disparity staring into the unending void on their latest work. Their forward thinking and ambitious nature continues to pay dividends, with Seven Crowns and Seven Seals equating to the perfect soundtrack for the destruction of worlds known and unknown. Let us bask within Sulphur Aeon’s innate ability to innovate and create, intrepidly enticing the listener to gaze upon their succubus of aural majesty.
