Sanctuarium - Melted and Decomposed

Sanctuarium is a death metal band from Barcelona that formed in 2021.  It originally was a one-man band, that man being Marc Rodriguez.  But he added additional members and, after a demo and a split album with Magick Howl, released their debut album, “Into The Mephitic Abyss.”  The band is firing on all cylinders, wasting little time and dropping their second full-length album, “Melted and Decomposed.” 

This album is absolutely FILTHY.  The five long songs spend 48 minutes doing exactly what the album’s title offers.  As these cavernous, often doom-inspired, leviathans of decayed music atrocities lumber their way through, they break down, destroy completely, and let the pain just fester until nothing is left but a rotten husk of what once was a living creature.  

While the album certainly embraces aesthetics of death/doom, it doesn’t seek to stay slow and stalking all the time.  A variety of tempos await in these deep cesspools of human mockery and the riffs are ever changing to engage the listener but not to confuse; even at their most chaotic, the band allows the songs plenty of time to sink in, letting the darkness seep into your very bones.

I really like the vocals ..deep and gravely but part of the music in such a way they sound like another force of nature, another instrument, being neither too loud or too low in the mix.  The tone of the instruments is deep and unfathomable.   I can’t decide what’s more oppressive, the bass or the guitars, which is good because it means there are just more layers to this nightmare.

However, the instruments are trapped in depths so dark that nothing can be seen.  The music is surprisingly open enough that what’s under the dark can be seen….yes it’s deep, yes it’s darker than black but you are still going to see what is killing you.

Since it’s just five songs, I will explain a little about each one.  Unlike some albums of this style, each song doesn't sound different from the last even while embracing these same themes and elements.

“Abhorrent Excruciation in Reprisal,” begins in an interesting way, offering an ominous sound as an intro.  Instead of being a separate track, the intro is built into the song, which starts a few seconds after these damp tones fade away.  

The song bursts outward with explosive riffs and drums before the instruments are grasped by ghastly death growls.  It slows down, letting the guitar breathe as they drop the doomiest riff that ever doomed a doomed doom.  The song ebbs and flows out of these tempos but throws in a surprisingly catchy groove near the end, perfectly marked by the drumming. The last few precious moments kick the tempo up for a final bout of clawing violence.

“Exultant Dredge of Nameless Tombs,” is a mind fuck in the beginning, with the way the drums suddenly stop as the riffs smash down.  The band injects more groove as the vocals rip through like a hurricane.  At this point, the song is a huge wall of sound; it works but, like I said earlier, the band doesn’t seek to stay in place all the time.  The song opens up, offering sweet, sweet riffs of festering death.  The mid section is my favorite moment, representing one of the heaviest moments in extreme music I’ve heard all year.  The song builds back up in a more intricate way, offering guitars that embrace the details and elements of the world they are building.  

“Phelgmatic Convulsions,” opens with a slow, serpent-like groove that stalks its way down empty halls, devoid of everything except the death that consumed all.  The drums are very clever, complimenting in just the right way to keep engagement high.  After the halfway mark, the rumbling carnage seeks to force its way into the world itself, possessing death and reanimate into something that knows nothing beyond moving ever forward to consume. 

“Sadisic Cremation of Emaciated Offal,” is one of my favorites of the five songs.  It has a certain energy to it that is hard to explain but can clearly be felt.  It isn’t often that music this putrescent is so enthralling but this gripped me from beginning to end.  Maybe it’s the guitars and how they move from riff to riff, not in a hurried fashion or truly slow way, but in a way that lets them get to the edge of madness before rising again to another level of putridity. 

The album ends with the unbridled fury of “The Disembodies Grip of Putrescine Stench.”  The opening is vicious, a pure death metal holocaust. The atmosphere on this song is incredible, always dripping something rotten onto the extremity.  It’s a sterling combination of old school brutality, doom metal decay, and smart song writing that uses abrasive tendencies  as a guiding tool. 

Sanctuarium has crafted an impressive album with “Melted and Decomposed,” and I can see it appealing to fans of both death and doom but also to those who like detailed, atmospheric music.