Review by Saxy S for Witch Vomit - Funeral Sanctum (2024)

Now, I have never been one to judge an album by its cover, but one look at the name "Witch Vomit" and I was less than surprised when I heard Funeral Sanctum. It almost sounds like a fake name; perhaps even A.I. generated to sound brutal, but when spoken aloud just sounds fucking stupid.

Apologies for the tangent, but I just don't think that the band name should be ignored in this case. Especially when you consider the content of what's found inside Funeral Sanctum as a fairly straightforward approach to old school death metal. I enjoyed the instrumental production since it expands the individual songs and their diverse textures and flows. About half of this record has solid hooks and riffs and decent song composition, but another half of the album just feels like inconsequential riff fests. The vocals are also a fairly mute point since they return to Cookie Monster delivery, leaving the content severely lacking. The percussion is solid most of the time, but the way in which the kick drum is mixed leaves it sounding like the album is constantly slowing down. And the record holds its best moments during the first half of the recording and I start to notice sizeable dropoffs in quality in the back half, which are not helped at all by the two interlude tracks "Endarkened Spirits" and "Abject Silence (Interlude)" one after the other. And just to add icing to the cake, Funeral Sanctum is produced through 20 Buck Spin records. 

I do not really resonate with old school death metal as much as other MA contributors do, but I can appreciate Funeral Sanctum for a decent, if not patchy mix, decent songwriting and a punchy runtime, making it so the relentless death metal does not become overwhelming. But as an enjoyer of the melodic side of the genre, Funeral Sanctum is missing many of the key aspects that make a death metal album great. It just isn't for me.

Best Songs: Serpentine Shadows, Black Wings of Desolation