Album Review: Sepulcre – Cryptic Temple Of Otherworldly Abhorrations (Invictus Productions)

Bretagne death metal band Sepulcre will release their debut full-length album, Cryptic Temple of Otherworldly Abhorrations, on 16 October 2026 via Invictus Productions.

Formed in 2020 from the last days of Kevin Desecrator’s earlier project Demonic Oath, the band features Kevin on vocals and guitar alongside Hélène Leroy on guitar, Léo Brard on bass and Jon Whiplash on drums. Kevin brings plenty of underground experience to the band, including his role as drummer for Destroyer 666 and involvement with acts such as Venefixion, while Jon has also been involved with bands including Skelethal.

Now, following 2022’s Cursed Ways of Sheol EP, Sepulcre return with seven tracks of dark, macabre and funereal death metal, exploring death, necromancy, blasphemy and the unknown.

Cryptic Temple of Otherworldly Abhorrations gets underway with Ominous Path (to the Nightside), and ominous is a good word to describe the dark and atmospheric sounds that lead us in. As the lead guitars break through that darkness, the mood shifts to something far more threatening, with some seriously dark and macabre metal. The riffs are heavy and mean, bringing a snarl to your face as you headbang along to the surprisingly catchy rhythms. Extreme, harsh gutturals, buried alongside the crashing drums and riffs, add a suffocating atmosphere, while the lead guitars offer some respite. This is very much on the extreme side of death metal, with plenty of black metal in there too. Thankfully, clever pace changes, intertwining melodies and infectious groove keep things from becoming too overwhelming. It’s a strong start, just not for the faint-hearted.

With no gaps between songs, Abyssum Drakon kicks straight in, raising the pace, energy and aggression. Again, I find some of these beats insanely infectious as the death metal riffs roll through the song. The vocals have some nice tonal variations, while the lead guitars add melody and some seriously cool moments. It’s a strong track that uses pace changes to great effect, moving from pit-destroying aggression to slower headbanging and back again.

Cryptic Temple keeps the album flowing with a really cool intro of screaming guitar feedback over a bed of superbly catchy drum beats. When it kicks in, it’s bassy, riff-heavy and packed with wicked drums. As extreme and dark as the music may be, I’m going to once again call out just how insanely catchy it can be. Growling and roaring vocals, drenched in echo and distortion, keep the atmosphere intact, while threatening lead guitar melodies and changes in pace ensure the darkness never lets up.

…of Otherworldly Abhorrations brings some interesting combinations of melody, drums and bass. A clever move to freshen things up a bit and showcase Sepulcre’s ability to get even more creative. It’s not tonally different; it’s still very clearly them, but it drops the vocals and instead hits us with some really punchy death metal, moving through passages of heavy riffing, more melodic sections and combinations of both.

Keeping things interesting with more shifts in style and tone, Katabasis brings the darkness with a slower, doomy start. Ringing melody joins the thunderous crashes of drums and riffs before a sudden burst of screaming lead guitar shakes things up and the song explodes into a barrage of chaotic metal. Demonic vocals, frenetic drums and bass lines, riffs shaking through you and lead guitars screaming off in different directions make this seriously nasty. Just as it brings you near the precipice of too much, they scale things back to the stompier, doom sounds. Clever stuff.

Towards the Unknown takes a more direct approach, kicking straight off with pace and energy. Rolling riffs and catchy drum beats bring some groove to what is still a very dark and heavy assault. The vocals stay mean, the melodies add atmospheric layers and the riffs, bass and drums apply just the right amount of catchiness to go with the menace and aggression. The pace continues to rise, and you can picture circle pits spinning like tornadoes while the lead guitars blaze out aggressive solos. Once again, Sepulcre use pace shifts cleverly, building things to almost incomprehensible levels before allowing melody to pull us back down, adding layers and atmosphere before the intensity starts building again. It’s clever song writing.

We reach the end of Cryptic Temple of Otherworldly Abhorrations with Darkness Rules Supreme, and much the same as we’ve seen across the album, there’s another brutal death metal track here that, within all the darkness and despair, showcases some very clever stuff. Catchy riffs, screaming leads and dastardly vocals lead us through aggressive passages before melody drops some atmosphere and brings the pace down without ever losing the darkness. We get lulled in with the slower stuff before the drums start to build us back up and, while it never goes full chaos again, the stomping riffs and crashing drums keep things feeling very intense through to the close.

Cryptic Temple of Otherworldly Abhorrations is very dark, very menacing and very much not for the faint-hearted. Sepulcre have put together a really strong death metal album that stays interesting through clever use of pace, melody and atmosphere, with enough shifts in intensity to keep things fresh. There is some occasional track bleed where the darkness and overall style can make individual songs blend together a little, but it never takes away from what is a very impressive debut full-length. If you’re looking for death metal that feels nasty, atmospheric and extreme, this is well worth your time.

Track List

1. Ominous Path (to the Nightside)

2. Abyssum Drakon

3. Cryptic Temple…

4. …of Otherworldly Abhorrations

5. Katabasis

6. Towards the Unknown

7. Darkness Rules Supreme

Sepulcre Links

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