CELESTIAL SANCTUARY - Soul Diminished
Redefining Darkness Records (North America)
Church Road Records (Europe)
One of the things I saw in this band's promo bio was that they're being hailed as part of the New Wave Of British Death Metal. One thing you get with age, like me, is that you remember little tidbits of info in that grand storehouse of memories. So it was definitely over a decade ago that I remember Terrorizor magazine, now defunct, had an issue dedicated to The New Wave Of British Death Metal. Unfortunately the bands they included, which appeared on an accompanying free CD, were mostly all 'core' sounding.
Fortunately CELESTIAL SANCTUARY are not a 'core' styled band. In fact they do fit nicely into Britain's death metal fold. Which brings me to another factor which comes with age. Just because something sounds similar to what you've heard before is not a bad thing. Especially if you liked it before a whole helluva lot. Yeah this English four piece act wears their influences like patches on a battle vest. But hey they're good quality influences to say the least. I mean come on, their name comes from a BOLT THROWER song from the The IVth Crusade album.
So musically yeah it's like the offspring of BOLT THROWER starting a band and kicking some ass throughout. Of course that's not the only influence going on here but I'll refrain from any lists. The band's key style is providing some decent heavy handed riffs. I won't say it's crushing but they do land a few knockout punches here and there. It's death doom that's mostly mid-paced in speed. When they do push things into a higher gear it's fine as well.
Soul Diminished is a good debut by a band that's playing by the genre rules. Personally I'd rather listen to something as solid as this then a release from a band that wants to give a middle finger to tradition. Hey if you wanna take risks and expand then fine do it on your future albums. But for now Britain needs you to play death doom for her. Nuff Said.
http://www.redefiningdarkness.com/
LISTEN HERE:
https://celestialsanctuary-uk.bandcamp.com/album/soul-diminished
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