Upon receiving this album for review from this Washington State band I was fearing either lo-fi, basement level one man black metal (due to the cover and the use of “ov”) or some more typically Pacific Northwest ‘cascadian’ black metal. I was wrong on both counts, as the second album from this duo is actually pretty solid straight up black metal with death metal influences and some atmospheric touches that sounds like a pretty typical, decent Moribund Records band.

Armed with an earthy, fuzzy but not tinny guitar tone and a mix of deep death metal bellows and standard black metal rasps, Sacrament ov Impurity reminded me a little of the recently reviewed British black metal act, Written In Torment in their tone and delivery, just without the synths. Opener “God Ov This World” gets right to it with an impressive stop start black/death metal riff and some solid tremolo picked black metal riffage throughout. It also introduces the first atmospheric section by way of a delicate acoustic bridge and whispers/shrieks. Second track “The Throne Will Burn” and third track “Under A Moonless Sky” are both a nice melodic, but frosty, slicing numbers, showing that the duo know their way around a solid riff with nods to both waves of early black metal and a little bit of their own character.

The 4 minute blast of “Upon the Wretched Tomb” mixes feral blasts and some mid paced control, before the 10+ minute title track delivers a bit of a buzz kill with a long winded start before a dramatic peak and rousing few moments of shrill riffage. Then there is a doomy, patient atmospheric mid song break before another terse black metal explosion. These guys know how to tease and peak, leaving the listener satisfied rather than leave a riff early or not fulfill the promise of a build up. Closer, “Darkness Everlasting” has some blistering familiarity and death metal crash n bash with a final few minutes of warbling ambiance akin to the start of the title track in its mid section. It’s a come down of sorts from the intensity of the rest of the album, but it’s a bit disjointed and leaves a bit of a sour taste.

Sacrament ov Impurity is far more adept at pure blackened fury than pseudo atmospherics or drony ambiance, and if they keep up the high quality of their riffs, they should not be anguishing in obscurity for very long (see what I did there?) as they have some potential to bring a little more bite into US black metal without being unlistenably raw or geographically cliched.

[Visit the band's website]

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