Rrröööaaarrr!!!
Independent metal, hardcore, punk and rock reviews from Scotland
195 metal CDs

Sathamel—Horror Vacui (2019)

Black metal | Death metal | Metal

90%

Cover of Sathamel—Horror Vacui (2019) is black wih gold writing showing the name of the band and album title.

Details

All music written and performed by Sathamel. Additional instrumentation by Samuel Turbitt and Sathamel. Guitars and bass recorded by KVN at various locations. Drums and vocals recorded by Samuel Turbitt at Ritual Sound Studio, Maunby. Mixed and mastered by Samuel Turbitt at Ritual Sound Studio. Logo design by “View From The Coffin”. Released independently on Friday 17 May 2019.

For fans of Hate, Behemoth, Deicide, Marduk

Bandcamp | Encyclopaedia Metallum | Facebook | YouTube

Band

  • Kruk—Vocal
  • KVN—Guitar
  • Cygnus—Guitar
  • Nadir—Bass
  • Reykr—Drums

Tracks

  1. Libera me
  2. Horror vacui
  3. Raise flame from ash
  4. A new age of lycanthropy
  5. The devil’s hand
  6. Whispers of a husk
  7. Świt
  8. There where is no time
  9. Of spilled wine and broken glass

Review

Another crazy week and I’m running behind again, so this is largely lifted from the press release. I say that I’m running behind… this is another of those albums that I wanted to review but which got lost in my inbox. So, while I feel that I’m a day late posting this, I am in fact over four years late.

Horror Vacui (2019) is the debut album from Yorkshire, England-based death/black metal band Sathamel.

Back from the brink and more powerful than ever before, Sathamel have returned with indisputable proof of their potency. Horror Vacui (2019) is a declaration of war, an edict of domination, a sentence of death. Let the pretenders cower, for the warlords have returned!

Teeth of the Divine described this album as “…the whole album is just pure blackened death satisfaction.”

I really cannot agree more. Everything about this album screams (or rather growls) quality. The production and mix are just perfect—powerful, balanced and in-your-face! I had the same excitement listening to this album for the first time as I did listening to Gorefest and Lair of the Minotaur (the very first album that I listened to after claiming those 195 metal CDs back in June 2012.

While Sathamel slumbered in a self imposed hibernation, two long years away from the lights of the stage and the energising power of performance, guardians of the flame KVN and Kruk, felt the nearness of the void. They sensed the emptiness that gnaws at the threads of our reality and poured that dread into the creation of Horror Vacui (2019)—the full length debut album that would see Sathamel return from the realms of night, howling their hymns of war!

Horror vacui—meaning ‘fear of empty space’—is a seething cauldron of fire and blood. Each song carries that touch of darkness from beyond the world and feeds the primal fear that writhes in our souls. An overwhelming tumult of razor sharp riffs and wicked intent, an engulfing pitch black torrent of mountainous drums and a cold, cruel voice speaking incantations of despair. Black and death metal entwined and twisted into a soul-scarring abomination, Horror vacui is all your fears unleashed, an unrelenting firestorm of terror.

Is there anything more terrifying to the human mind than the void? The eternal night, the endless nothingness, the state of unbeing… Is it not the emptiness that lies beyond our last shaking breath that props up all our dreams of heaven? Religions and empires have been built upon that terror, that desperation to simply be, to cling to some form of existence…anything but the never ending void. We bargain with non-existent entities, try to prove ourselves worthy to the gods of our imaginations, shower gold upon those who know how to exploit our weakness best. All to escape the inescapable, to stave off the darkness that draws closer with each fear shrouded moment…

Conclusion

This is a powerhouse of an album. I was right to hold on to it, I just wish I’d reviewed it years ago… but the last few years have featured voids of their own. There are layers and levels to this music that reveal themselves on each listen. Each song is a journey, exploring new areas, touching on different influences, covering everything with their own particular flavour of darkness. This is good… really good stuff.

Review score: 90%

Video

Disclosure

Imperative PR contacted me (in 2019… ahem!) inviting me to preview Sathamel’s then-forthcoming album, thank you. I have no connections to either Imperative PR or Sathamel. I’m not being paid to review this. But I did get a free digital copy of the album to review which is pretty cool. Many thanks to Imperative PR, and to Sathamel for continuing to create fresh, exciting new black / death metal.