ALBUM REVIEW: Seven Crowns And Seven Seals – Sulphur Aeon
Over the course of their near 15-year history, SULPHUR AEON have become one of the leading lights of Germany’s impressive extreme metal underground. Peddling a heady brand of blackened death metal that takes in soaring atmospherics and gothic touches, their sound is far broader and more engrossing than many bands within the same style, with each of their first three albums garnering the quintet critical acclaim and fans across Europe and indeed the world. The band’s latest album, Seven Crowns And Seven Seals, sees the more opaque elements within their sound being pushed to the forefront, with the end result being an album that is every bit as murky and esoteric as it is ferocious.
The short and atmospheric Sombre Tidings sets a bleak and minimalistic tone and leads straight into the album’s first full track Hammer From The Howling Void; this is a magnificent start, launching straight into a whirlwind of dizzying, grating death metal with thick rhythms, frenetic drums and ethereal, slick leads all creating a murky and imposing sound right off the bat. It strikes a great balance between caustic and catchy, with tight, imaginative leads that command the listener’s attention, whilst making plenty of room for fierce, speed-driven moments, with the muscular gutturals adding to the effect, making this an incredibly strong start to proceedings.
Usurper Of The Earth And Sea proves to be a more measured track, utilising cleaner guitar tones and a cavernous drums to develop a monolithic sound, with the weightier hooks and acerbic vocals lending this a sinister edge. The huge sound is tinged by melodic leads and jarring flourishes, counterpointing the epic, gothic qualities of this track with a slight discordance that gradually takes over, transforming this into a monstrous slab of blackened death metal. The Yearning Abyss Devours Us again pairs heavy rhythms with soaring riffs and eclectic vocals, which take in sonorous baritones, throaty gutturals and acidic howls. The variety in the vocals is matched by the diversity and intricacy in the music, in particular when it comes to the drums and guitars, which shift seamlessly from the bestial to the bombastic with ease, making this an extremely immersive offering.
Arcane Cambrian Sorcery, by contrast, leans prominently into meaty, groove-laden death metal, with massive guitars, impenetrable vocals and pummelling percussion creating a darker, harsher sound, lurching from focused, punishing sections to unhinged, chaotic ones, with just the smallest amount of melodicism creeping into the sound, allowing the thunderous undercurrent and visceral vocals to carry this for the most part. The album’s penultimate, titular track is a slow-burning affair which starts with a military beat and ponderous, spartan guitars that slowly build towards a denser sound before bursting into life with a cacophonous yet grandiose sound that ties together the lighter and brutal sides of the band’s sound, ebbing and flowing between feral, unpredictable moments through to majestic parts that incorporate clean vocals and crystalline guitars, and seeing the underlying gothic pomp return to the forefront of the music to result in a sombre, savage sound that covers a lot of ground musically.
Beneath The Ziqqurats, the final, sprawling number on this record, embraces the same sort of dramatic template that the preceding song had, swiftly morphing into a blistering and bellicose blackened death metal juggernaut that sees the guitars and vocals at their most adventurous, with polished licks and ominous whispers being interwoven in amongst the savage, angular rhythms and demented dissonance. It takes the formula of the previous song and perfects it, bringing this album to a close on one of its strongest and most cinematic offerings.
SULPHUR AEON are one of those bands that only seem to improve with each album, and Seven Crowns And Seven Seals is no exception, marking arguably their best work to date. Where much of the band’s earliest work was very intense blackened death metal with a crisp and polished sound, this album possesses various musical twists and turns, jarring shifts into new motifs and the blending of different elements which creates an opaque and gothic feel that sounds ominous, making plenty of room for punchy flourishes and catchy hooks in amongst the unerring cacophony and aggression. This is one of those rare records that could very well appeal to fans across the spectrum of death metal, from fans of melodeath through to fans of the more brutal and aggressive side of the genre, and it would be great to see them explore this darker and layered side of their sound in their future music, because it sounds fantastic.
Rating: 9/10
Seven Crowns And Seven Seals is set for release on October 13th via Ván Records.
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