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CELESTIAL SANCTUARY
Visions Of Stagnant Blood EP

Self-released (2024)
Rating: 8/10

Following last year’s rather disappointing sophomore full-length outing, Insatiable Thirst For Torment, British death metallers Celestial Sanctuary are back with a new three-song EP. I prefer the look of this new release; the art work is zany and demented, and thankfully the sounds within are pretty vile too as the Cambridge, England-based crew torment us with raw torrents of sludge and bile that boast blackened traces boosted by the mastering of J.B. van der Wal.

The monstrous ten-minute chunk ‘Gavage Of The Vile’ is a force into itself, a blackened rush of deathness with a dark and underlying cosmic passage of serenity, possibly hinting at a new future direction. Thomas Cronin’s bestial howls continue to resonate around the pitch black chasm of riffs, especially on the violent opening title track, a pulverising surge of horror pierced by a solid solo. ‘Puddles Of You Reflect The Filth Within’ is as equally punishing with its brutal riffs, circa Cannibal Corpse, before steadying itself to a chug of gore.

As an EP, Visions Of Stagnant Blood is a return to meaty form for the band and a bludgeoning riddled with archaic and primitive slickness and sickness.

Neil Arnold

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