Witch Vomit – Funeral Sanctum
Release Date: 5th April 2024
Label: 20 Buck Spin
Bandcamp
Genre: Death Metal
FFO: Necrophobic, Dissection, Autopsy, Mortuous, Entombed, Gorement, Necrowretch, Ceremonial Oath, Torture Rack, Entrails.
Review By: Eric Wilt
The realm of old-school influenced American death metal bands is getting more and more crowded every day, but some bands have already staked their claim in what is becoming an overpopulated subgenre of metal. Witch Vomit is one of these bands that has already made a name for themselves by releasing two full lengths and two EPs, oozing death metal grotesqueries like pus from an infected corpse. The full lengths, A Scream from the Tomb Below and Buried Deep in a Bottomless Grave and the EPs, Poisoned Blood and Abhorrent Rapture all showed a band that cut their teeth on 90s death metal and made it their own for the 21st Century. Now they have returned with Funeral Sanctum, an album that sees them broaden their primordial palette to include more melodic influences this time around.
If you love Witch Vomit for of their merciless and bludgeoning straight-ahead death metal, don’t fret. There’s still plenty of that on songs like Endless Fall, Serpentine Shadow, and Funeral Sanctum (the latter song also makes use of a doomy melody). But for the first time on a Witch Vomit album, songs like Blood of Abomination and Dominion of a Darkened Realm incorporate a nasty melodicism that fits perfectly with the bands tried and true death metal formula to take the songs to the next level.
You know Witch Vomit isn’t going to release an album that isn’t of the highest standards of death metal. If you’re a fan of the band, Funeral Sanctum will make you very happy. If you haven’t given them a shot yet, the new album is probably the most accessible album they’ve released, so what better place than here to start?
(4 / 5)
