ALBUM REVIEW: Witch Vomit – Funeral Sanctum

Portland Death Metal old schoolers WITCH VOMIT are back with their third full length album. Set for release by long-term label 20 Buck Spin on April 5th.

As the artwork and singles have hinted at, Witch Vomit have had a sonic rebirth. Their scourge of old school Death Metal continues but borrowing some of the melodic sensibilities from the likes of Dissection and Sacramentum. This fusing of soundscapes should render this an interesting listen as a fan of their prior works or a new comer, so let’s dive in. The revolting grotesqueries of the guitar riffs are as strong as ever, as are the sinuously meaty vocals. Equally impenetrable, the drum onslaught sounds huge, with all tied together by some excellent mixing. Thankfully their cataclysmic brutality has not been pushed asunder by the more intricate melodies, rather both enhancing each other to form a sinister and intense rampage of savage upheaval. It seems to be the year that a few bands are experimenting with other 90s sounds alongside the more typical Death Metal vein, here Witch Vomit prove to be among the few who successfully do so. Unleashing this album was definitely a move that cannot be taken back.

Further into the abyssal dwellings of “Funeral Sanctum”, we hear those frosty melodics entwined with vibrant putrescent filth grow a splendid atmosphere while feeling utterly relentless all the way. Walls of brutal double kicks and waves of crashing cymbals provide a backline to the convulsive riffing which has a serpentine fluidity from start to end. The monstrously low vocals punishing as ever with gargantuan snarls come through the mix supremely. There is a really nice balance here wherein nothing overlaps too much, all audible but coherent. In fact I would say this is the best mixing the band has received to date from an objective point of view. Indeed the songs stand on their own feet too, offering abominable and evil Death Metal time and time again.

The evocative moments in the songwriting barrel toward more furious sounds with an animalistic hostility. Each of these transitions feels natural and smooth with the organic songwriting giving ecstatic use of dynamics throughout. Everything is harnessed by the volatile moods of the record which are its greatest asset. Ruthless, distinctive and frigid tracks spew forth an overlooked moment in Extreme Metal’s history while remaining in the strong and unfaltering context of Witch Vomit’s discography. This middle ground is exactly what I had hoped for following this records announcements, quelling all fears of the band doing some lame melo-death trend-chase which lacks the real spirit. Alas Witch Vomit did not let us down. They remain beastly and violent as ever while daring to tread new ground, a rarity and even rarer is it to pull off so well over a decade into a bands career.

A short, unwieldy and firm offering of Death Metal with intense melodies, vibrant grooves and an overall morbid atmosphere that could easily have been torn straight from 1995. Lovers of Witch Vomit, do not fear, the band has not lost their sound albeit it different this time around. Those mortuary-lurking hooks and thrashing rampages are here aplenty with the new blackened edges. A bold but worthwhile step forward. Sepulchral, funereal and ultimately crushing, this monolith of extremity must be cranked.