SEDIMENTUM - Demo MLP
"Sedimentum popped onto my radar last week from browsing Tomb Mold's related artists, and as such, their debut demo has sadly escaped my radar for over two goddamn years. Really speaking, I'm convinced that this band has no clue how awesome and gifted they really are. They're better than Tomb Mold. They're better than even Funebrarum, which is saying an absolute shit ton if you know me even a little bit. And they probably just see themselves as a couple honest guys who play DM in a cool little gnarly band.
This demo is essentially like the updated version of Abhorrence's CLASSIC debut demo Vulgar Necrolatry in terms of song structure, but another point of comparison would be the early Purtenance demos as well as, for recent reference, Mortiferum's debut demo. Many have noted that the former early Finndeath demos had a grind-tinge to them and this is very true - I believe these Finnish bands took influence from early UK deathgrind to achieve such a sound. Well, Sedimentum does not have a substantial grind influence to their sound, but the labyrinthine, subterranean bore-like feel to the riffs is present in the sense of classic Scandinavian DM. This is a well-taken point for the more "cavernous" side of death metal - don't just make it sound like you're in a cavern, make it sound like your music is drilling and creating the cavern itself. Putrevore is a band that succeeded at this fairly often during their noteworthy run and Sedimentum is adept at it, too.
Really, the riffs succeed due to their structure, and on a broader scale, how their structure influences this demo as a whole. Leads are seamlessly incorporated into the meandering compositions and the vocals are familiar without being particularly derivative. These growls are awesome because they're very low and guttural but still have a bit of a hoarse bark to them. Then there's also not too much reverb, maybe a bit less than Ossuarium used on Living Tomb. I may have implied earlier that I find the death metal Sedimentum offers here to be entirely inspired by Scandinavia's classics and while that's certainly a colossal part of this equation, I'd say this is a good example of "an influence of an influence" being used properly. Basically, like I hinted at earlier, you could name modern "putrid" DM bands like Putrevore, Funebrarum, Undergang, Krypts, etc. who took heavy influence from early Scandinavian OSDM, take their slight adaptations to this winning formula, and mix them into Sedimentum's lethal blender of influences and basically you come out with a really good twice-baked potato of double-layered death metal.
Ambiance is well-applied here. The intro to the first track is not overbearing and lasts exactly the right amount of time for the music to come lurching into audible territory at the right moment, and the outro of the last track is just as measured. Guitar harmonies accenting the riffs are relatively subtle but do add to the feeling of a dripping, sullen cavern. Although the musicianship here is less technical than Chthe'ilist or Tomb Mold, it is ultimately more effective and to the point, and therefore achieves an atmosphere-driven death metal experience all the better for my money. Finally, the competent but not technical musicianship makes use of emphatic rhythms (slow-paced tremolo riffs broken up by beefy power chords and stomping fills in particular) which also lend to a very dense atmosphere.
I can't fully pinpoint everything that makes Sedimentum's humbly titled debut demo so enjoyable for me so I'll leave off here. You need to hear this demo if you're into Tomb Mold, Mortiferum, Funebrarum, Putrevore, and all the 90's heroes. OSDM rules."
- 100% (Metal Archives)
Black vinyl
Me Saco Un Ojo 2023
