RSS Feed


CELESTIAL SANCTUARY
Insatiable Thirst For Torment

Church Road (2023)
Rating: 7/10

Cambridge, England-based death metallers Celestial Sanctuary didn’t make much of an impact on me when they released their 2021 debut album Soul Diminished. It was certainly a good effort, but the competition within the UK scene has been so fierce that even with its earthy tones Soul Diminished was a no thrills affair.

Strangely, Insatiable Thirst For Torment continues in the same vein, a trusty slab of old school death metal that rarely shifts beyond the formulaic. Even so, this is by no means a bland record and the aggressive organic tone remains as do the gritty and slightly cavernous vocals.

Flashes of Bolt Thrower are fused with busy percussion on axe work which makes itself known from the off with fiery opener ‘Trapped Within The Rank Membrane’. A majority of tracks boast that organic flurry which squirms like a rushing draught through a crack. The unintentionally hilariously titled ‘Glutted With Chunder’ brings a passion and cold density while also incorporating a mid-tempo groove, but as this platter unravels everything starts to become a gnashing blur, reminding me why my interest so quickly faded on the first release.

I love death metal but this kind of release, even with track titles such as ‘Meandering Stream Of Foul Fluid’ and ‘The Lurid Glow Of A Dead, Burning Body’, just doesn’t feel gore-soaked or rank enough. Sure, Celestial Sanctuary are more aggressive than most bands within the genre at the moment that prefer mid-tempo horror, which the guys do bring with ‘Biomineralization (Cell Death)’, but it’s just not enough and so any sort of dank atmosphere all too quickly gets blown away by the gusts.

Thomas Cronin delivers enough slurping, slurs and yaps to keep one entertained and yes, this outing is a marked improvement on the debut and the influences of Bolt Thrower, Autopsy, Asphyx et al. remain, which I guess brings an air of the predictable to the arena even with those slithering guitars. Maybe the fault just lies with me, because this is still a massive sounding outing awash with a crispness and confidence and Jay Rutherford’s bass is less drowned this time round.

Simple yet brutal, Insatiable Thirst For Torment will quench the thirst of many but I’m just left rather underwhelmed.

Neil Arnold

<< Back to Album & EP Reviews



Related Posts via Categories
Share