ninehertz

Sedated’s debut O Ritual dos Sádicos only came out last September, but they’re already back, which is fantastic news as it was a low-key excellent record of psychedelic occult doom. They’re a duo from Occitanie in France, a doom side-piece from long standing positions in death metal bands Morgue and Corrupter. The horror film fixation evident on this follow up comes as no surprise.

As before, this is occult doom that avoids the obvious tropes, instead operating within an overcast, claustrophobic air, at a lumbering pace. Amid the frequent horror score call backs you can hear the occasional leap in stoner rock flair, even if masked within the cloudiness of its surroundings.

After a decent start, the album actually goes up a notch from middle song Curtains – a quickly decaying number, grand, blackened and unholy with vocal laments crying out from the void. The guitars drives forth from the morass of cult noise, accumulating heaviness as it goes to set up a powerful cavalcade of an ending, pulling all of the articles required for doom oppression and arcane mystique towards this superb climax.

Crownhaven Farm is gorgeously dank and dreary, thick with noise and drawled vocals, whilst Coffin Breed’s big, slow, booming riff plays second fiddle to the pounding drums that set the scene. It is an excellent triumvirate of tracks to conclude with, on yet another impressive showing from this new band of doom.