DEMO REVIEW: Sedimentum – Demo

Here I review the brand new demo debut of old school Death-Doom heavyweights SEDIMENTUM which is out now! Hailing from Canada, these guys promise putridity.

1. L’océan Encéphalique sets out with haunting and simplistic ambience, setting the dungeon-dwelling soundscape before the Death Metal madness has even begun. Grisly guitars and crashing drums churn in with a dissonant blend of aggressive and convulsing riffs with slow crawling putridity chasing the chaos. The monstrous instrumentals are met by a powerfully guttural vocal performance, striking the stomach with a feeling of foreboding among the discordance and monolithically grinding morbidity of the music. A well paced and odiously pungent opening track of truly gargantuan proportions with roaring brutality, frenzied shreds and atmospherics to spare. Excellent.
2. Momifié Dans La Vase falls in with more gruesome guitars that bellow into a raging cacophony of chugging, meaty riffs with a hammering drum performance to harden the almighty blows of death. Picking up the pace with a mid-tempo groove of tremolo riffs and upbeat drum fills, the macabre vocal growls are back to complete the raw and putrid attack of intimidating and crushing ferocity. A momentum build of sorts is to be found within the hideously heavy brutality that offers a decimating barrage of aggressive blasts and thrashing riffs among the more laid-back grooves. Volatile, doomy and evil, this song is glorious.
3. Décimation Lente forces itself in with a violating blend of further grimy riffs, catatonic drum crashes and tormenting vocal snarls. The buzzsaw guitars have a really cutting edge to them thanks to the lo-fi production style which only adds to the savagery that this demo delivers with a barbaric blend of monstrous instrumental work and gut-wrenching vocals. This song keeps the consistent balance of crawling Doom Metal grooves with a scorching inferno of putrid Death Metal torn right from the crypt. A whiplash paced headbangers dream right here. Fantastic.
4. Un Cycle Tourmenté roars in with more bellowing guitars and blasting drum assaults shortly accompanied by a barrage of hellish vocals, the full band working together beautifully to create a heavyweight punch of hard-hitting Death-Doom for one final brutally grooving extremity. The monolithic swing of the piece delivers blow after blow of rotting musical savagery that never ceases to feel awesomely down-to-earth with its primitively crushing songwriting and production. An odious affair to close the album with a well-rounded performance showing just how ridiculously heavy a well-paced demo can be. An enticing way to lead out with mesmerising groove and utterly ferocious musicianship. The way it ends on solo drums and bass before more crypt-dwelling samples fade us out is gorgeously done. Magnificent.

An utterly phenomenal first demo from a band I expect great success and fantastic future material from. The excellent blend of old school Death Metal with some Doom Metal groove has a morbid flare and true brilliance to it. Aside from the catchy hooking riff-fest we are given plenty of blasting assaults and hideously devastating vocals to make for a well-rounded complete package. -8/10