Review Summary: Drown in filth.
There is a certain amount of irony in my discovery of
Cenotaph of Defectous Creation. I was not on a long winded peruse through the "caverncore" section of bandcamp, seeking anything that looked stankier than a typical high school boys locker room, but rather I was hoping to find Bring Me the Horizons much less grimy seminal album
Sempiternal. Now, fortunately or unfortunately it is not what I found, but rather I found one of the most grisly and punishing acts in death-doom, Sempiternal Dusk.
The path Sempiternal Dusk tread is one well-worn, as hefty bass lines and guitar riffs crush their gnarled feet on the same causeways built by bands like diSEMBOWELMENT and Incantation. However, while every guttural and growl and tremolo do aim to completely submerse the listener in heaps and loads of FILTH, there are minor tweaks in their approach that keep one's curiosity piqued, evidenced on the first two tracks of the album. "Caverns of Aural Decay" is just an intro, but is one that is in equal parts cold, isolated, warm and welcoming. It greets you with a loving blanket of fuzz which slowly subsides into haunting key/synthwork, an apt way to lead into "Exacavated Filth From Dimensional Incantations" (a track that balances melancholic black metal riffs with echoing gutturals oh-so-beautifully).
For such a sluggish behemoth, the amount of detail and variety incorporated into this album is quite impressive. In part this can be thanked to the aforementioned black metal influence, something that presents itself more in the gloomy overtones of the record itself rather than ripping out a sudden Darkthrone riff. However it can also be thanked to two other things, the first of which being some wonderful drum work resplendent with cymbal crashes, hi-hat grooves and drum fills when the occasion calls for one (on a side note, the blasts at 1:35 of "Orgiastic Feast Upon Martyred Flesh" will probably turn you into mincemeat, take proper precautions!). The second of these things would be the mixing and production, which retain the much desired fuzz and echo of proper caverncore while bringing every facet of this record to the limelight. The riffs, the gutturals and many cymbal crashes all work in perfect tandem (and volume) to form an immaculate swampy beast, one that will bludgeon you into the nether realms.
