Celestial Sanctuary - Insatiable Thirst for Torment (2023)

Celestial Sanctuary came onto my radar with their 2021 debut Soul Diminished, it had some pretty distinctive artwork and fit right in with that death metal resurgence of bands like Tomb Mold, Cerebral Rot, Undeath, and Creeping Death, all cultivating old school sounds and then evolving them ever so slightly to become something refreshing. While that debut had a pretty solid, roiling, atmospheric production, Insatiable Thirst for Torment definitely operates with more clarity and maturity, not exactly changing up the style but delivering it in a way that might have more crossover appeal to a wider swath of the death metal audience. This is hardly novel stuff, the riff-set and general style reflect a plethora of influences, largely a twist on the Floridian death metal of yesteryear, but it's very well executed.

This is also measured stuff. The band can fire up the blasting speed when necessary, but they prefer to take their time and let you lay into a moderately paced groove. However, it's never stupid or simple, they will festoon the thicker rhythm riffs with squeals, atmospheric lead spikes, and all matter of variation in cuts like "Glutted with Chunder" or "Swivel Eyed and Gurning in the Shadow". Oh yes, the titles, these are some fairly literate gore hounds, but fear not, your scrubs will still be caked with blood by the time the double kick and blast of "Gutted with a Blunt Blade" resolves and you are permitted to escape. The drums are concise and killer, the bass has a nice fat tone to it, and the vocals are brutally restrained but always offer you that feel like they are being torn straight from the gut. Celestial Sanctuary is also unafraid to implement some atmospherics, like the gorgeous wailing that opens "Meandering Stream of Foul Fluid" or the tectonic, spacious doom dissonance in "Unquenchable Thirst...".

Pretty top shelf material from a band that knows how take simpler, choppier rhythms and then adorn them with enough character and atmosphere that they'll punch well above where you'd expect. It helps that the mix is phenomenal, you can really hear all these ingredients firing back and forth at you through your speakers while the central heaviness persists. It's not so catchy that I find myself thinking about it between listens, but when Insatiable Thirst for Torment is actually being pumped into my ears, I find it's another one that can fully captivate me. An easy recommendation if you're into any of the bands I listed above, or the heavier Blood Incantation stuff, or Vastum, Ulthar, or you want something to honor the legacy of groups like Morbid Angel, Incantation, and the like.

Verdict: Win [8.5/10]

https://celestialsanctuary.bandcamp.com/album/visions-of-stagnant-blood-2