ALBUM REVIEW: Sparagmos – Spectral Voice
Rewind the clocks to 2017, and there was something special brewing in Colorado. Having taken the death metal world by storm with 2016’s Starspawn, BLOOD INCANTATION were riding the wave as the death metal resurgence began to gain momentum, but then came Eroded Corridors Of Unbeing, the debut offering from SPECTRAL VOICE – a band comprised of three quarters of BLOOD INCANTATION. A solid and harrowing slab of death/doom, the debut instantly put the band front and centre in extreme music circles. Now, after what seems like an eternity, comes SPECTRAL VOICE‘s sophomore offering Sparagmos. And not only does it built upon 2017’s debut, it exceeds it to catapult you into the depths of the abyss.
Weighing in at 45 minutes, over the course of four expansive compositions, Sparagmos sees SPECTRAL VOICE expand upon the foundations set by 2017’s offering to deliver a masterclass of doom drenched death metal. Opening track Be Cadaver slowly unfolds its sinister atmosphere as haunting instrumentals and a foreboding sense of dread wraps its arms around you like the cold embrace of death before unleashing a wicked passage of play where the ante is raised and the sheer ferocity of the band is unleashed.
Clocking in at just shy of 12 minutes, the album opener is a perfect snapshot into SPECTRAL VOICE‘s twisted and macabre musical world as the instrumentation and sinister undertones swirl and contort like a twisted pantomime, keeping you fixated in the oppressive nature of the music. Few bands come close to delivering music as obtusely dense as this.
Across Sparagmos, the band walk a tightrope between hulking doom that would sit comfortably on early AHAB to frenzied death metal that fans of SADISTIC INTENT would lap up with utter glee. Red Feasts Condensed Into One is an exemplary example of this as the track ebb and flows in chaotic rhythm before allowing the more mid tempo thud and reverb to shine through and breathe in its own space. Sinew Censor features solitary mourning guitar notes play solemnly above a rain of hellfire from the drums, before subsiding into an aural frenzy that leaves you stunned.
And then there’s album closer Death’s Knell Rings In Eternity. An utter behemoth of a track and arguably the perfect song to soundtrack the apocalypse, the riffs bend and distort, the pained shrieks and guttural blasts intertwine with the copious amounts of dense reverb on display and the track’s pacing ebbs and flows in fine fashion. It’s a harrowing end to an album that not for one minute allows you to catch your breath.
Capturing the sheer immersion of what made 2017’s debut so gripping, Sparagmos not only lives up to the mighty expectations established, but exceeds them magnificently. The eerie atmosphere is even more intense, the brutality more devastating. This is an album that encapsulates the sound of extreme metal and leaves you gasping for breath under the weight of its sheer heaviness.
Rating: 9/10
Sparagmos is out now via Dark Descent Records.
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