Cerebral Curse - Abominant Incarnations of Sepulchral Depths

Hailing from Catalonia, CEREBRAL CURSE draw on the oldest and most enduring elements of death/doom metal for their first full-length, following their 2025 promo release. Spanning just under 40 minutes across three lengthy compositions, "Abominant Incarnations of Sepulchral Depths" brings together slow tempos, repetition-driven riffs and the more aggressive side of death metal. The interplay between passages approaching funeral doom and more dynamic death metal sections is one of the defining features of the album's overall character.

The opening track, 'Abominant Incarnations of Sepulchral Depths', begins with a lumbering, primitive groove before picking up speed through bursts of blast beats. This momentum doesn't last long, though. The band soon slows things down again, allowing darker guitar melodies to emerge. Repetition plays an important role in CEREBRAL CURSE's songwriting. The weighty riffs built around deeply downtuned guitars gain considerable rhythmic force through the measured, deliberate drum patterns. At the same time, the band uses tempo shifts, brief melodic excursions and groove-driven passages to break up the monotony that could otherwise arise from maintaining the same intensity for extended periods. This approach allows passages reminiscent of the more physical and straightforward side of death/doom, as heard in COFFINS, to coexist within the same compositions with the slower, more oppressive atmosphere of funeral doom.

'Mangled Cranial Liquefaction' represents the more energetic side of this approach. Its initially sluggish progression eventually gives way to a noticeable burst of speed. Driven by D-beat rhythms, this section introduces a rawer, punk-inflected death metal character that brings AUTOPSY and ABSCESS to mind. Elsewhere, heavy riffs accompanied by clearly audible drum hits take centre stage, while unsettling melodies develop in the background. The more spacious, disorienting atmosphere of the opening track gives way here to a more immediate sense of menace. By employing the same musical vocabulary at varying levels of intensity, the band manages to maintain a sense of variety while stretching a relatively limited pool of riff ideas across lengthy compositions.

The closing track, 'Degradation Towards Corporeal Dissolution', runs for over 17 minutes and represents the album's clearest expression of funeral doom. The death metal-driven momentum of the preceding tracks largely recedes, replaced by slow tempos, extended guitar passages and gradually unfolding melodies that give the composition a different sense of time. The darker melodic passages that become more pronounced in the second half demonstrate the band's ability to build atmosphere. However, the relationship between this track and the first two isn't entirely seamless. While the tempo shifts and death metal outbursts of the opening pair give the album much of its dynamic character, the closer's largely doom-oriented approach creates a noticeable divide in terms of cohesion. The direction itself is internally consistent, but it takes the album somewhere quite different from where the preceding tracks have led.

Ernesto Plazas' vocal performance is another important element in shaping the band's identity. Also handling lead guitar duties, Plazas makes effective use of a deep, distorted growl, particularly during the slower passages. The elongated syllables and generous application of echo reinforce the music's dark atmosphere, while occasional shifts into higher-pitched screams help prevent the vocal delivery from becoming monotonous. Moreover, the vocal lines rarely operate independently of the guitar riffs, often sharing their rhythmic accents. This interplay prevents the vocals from feeling like an element simply laid over the instrumentation. Particularly during the slower sections of 'Mangled Cranial Liquefaction', the almost inhuman quality of Plazas' voice further intensifies the track's threatening character.

The production has prompted noticeably different reactions to the album. While some listeners and critics regard the guitars' dirty tone and low-end weight as natural components of the death/doom aesthetic, others feel that the approach occasionally veers too far into rawness. The album's overall sound does indeed differ from the more suffocating and densely produced examples of the genre. On the other hand, the clarity with which the instruments, particularly the drums, come through makes it easier to follow the compositions' structures. The clearly defined cymbal work and drum hits prevent rhythmic details from disappearing beneath the weight of the guitars. The echo on the vocals and the guitars' gritty tone also complement the atmospheric side of this production approach. Nevertheless, listeners looking for a denser, more unified sound may find that this level of clarity falls short of delivering the suffocating death/doom atmosphere they expect. Ultimately, the production strikes a balance between the genre's traditionally murky sound and the need to keep the individual instruments distinguishable.

CEREBRAL CURSE's music contains elements of the death/doom associated with bands such as MORGION, RUNEMAGICK, TYRANNY and HOODED MENACE. The dark melodies reminiscent of MORGION's earlier material, combined with the ponderous progression of the extended compositions, offer a useful indication of the tradition from which the band draws. At the same time, CEREBRAL CURSE bring together funeral doom's extended atmospheric passages and death metal's more energetic, physically driven riffing to establish their own songwriting approach. There is no radical reinvention of the genre here; the album's value lies in the band's ability to make effective use of familiar elements without resorting to unnecessary complexity. The decision to keep the record to just three tracks also works in its favour. Considering the length of the closing composition in particular, adding more material could easily have diluted the impact of what is already here.

"Abominant Incarnations of Sepulchral Depths" is a debut full-length rooted in the traditional heaviness of death/doom metal and the patient, deeply dark progression of funeral doom, though it doesn't maintain the same intensity throughout. The differences between the first two tracks' shifting tempos and the closing composition's slower, more extended approach occasionally challenge the album's cohesion, but they do little to overshadow CEREBRAL CURSE's potential for riff writing and atmosphere-building. Refining the production further and establishing a more balanced relationship between lengthy compositions are areas the band could explore on future releases. For now, CEREBRAL CURSE have made a strong debut while remaining firmly attached to death/doom's established aesthetic. Listeners drawn to the dark musical worlds of MORGION, COFFINS and HOODED MENACE will find plenty here to warrant their attention.

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