Review by Shadowdoom9 (Andi) for Sepulcher - Panoptic Horror (2018)

Let's end the main initial part of my ultimate Pit test with one more album I enjoy! The second album from Sepulcher, Panoptic Horror has quite an evil thrash metal sound that has rarely touched the genre in the present compared to the past. It's basically a revival of earlier thrash metal with blackened guitars. I personally like the rough pain in the vocals. There's interesting bass and solid drums, the latter being subtle yet shining.

The songs in the first half have pretty much the same structure with riffing transitions from slow and fast without being too overpowering. The riffing is quite memorable and, for the newer thrash fans, worth coming back for.

First off, "Corporeal Vessels" blasts straight into thrash right from the intro. This peculiar yet killer sound is as fast as you would expect in thrash, but it slows down into dark dissonance with evil riffing. After going fast then going slow throughout the song, the tempo then sits in the middle with an awesome section, which then leads into a final fast searing riff. "Towards an Earthly Rapture" has bit of a progressive structure like Opeth, though the sound stays nice and firm at their usual blackened-ish thrash.

"Corrupting the Cosmos" is slow and sludgy, but in the last couple minutes, the band go as fast and thrashy as Vektor. "Ethereal Doom" takes a break from the Opeth-like progressive structure in their thrash for just full-on...thrash.

"Abyssal Horror" is quite the mind-blower, with a memorable beat stirring up a sound similar to early Voivod that you can enjoy. "Scourge of Emptiness" is filled with furious speed/thrash metal. "Haunting the Spheres" ends the album as a prime example of the classic thrash revival, often switching from powerful fast verses to a long slow bridge. The drumming continues to be interesting with tremendous transitions. Absolutely memorable!

Panoptic Horror is worth helping out in the mission to revive classic thrash with different elements of chaotic dissonance. If you're up for Leviathan-like arrangements added to Opeth-like progressive structure injected into a thrash sound reminiscent of Vektor and early Voivod, this album has it all!

Favorites: "Corporeal Vessels", "Corrupting the Cosmos", "Abyssal Horror", "Haunting the Spheres"