Sermon finally announces its first album.
Created in Turkey in 1997, the band released three demos before stopping in 2004. But in 2021, Harun Altun (vocals, Forgotten, Trenchwar, ex-Bayt Gadol), Cem Barut (guitar, ex-M.O.O.N.) and Durmus Kalin (guitar) revive the band, sign with BITUME, then announce the release of Till Birth Do Us Part.
Posthumous unveils a soft, soothing sound before striking with powerful Death Metal roots the band gear to their massive slowness. Piercing, haunting leads occasionally replace raw vocals, which occasionally turn into melancholic clean vocals, and then Sliver Splinter brings more aggressive tones to its solid rhythm. The combination of soaring harmonics with the effective basis and heavy vocals easily carries our mind while welcoming some heavy influences before the melodious Flawless Entropy offers us an extremely anguished violin before returning to its saturated sounds. The track offers a certain tortured complexity mixed with a slow and oppressive rhythm, just like Requitement which also lets majestic keyboards reveal marked Gothic sounds that contrast with the raw and rocky basis. Cerulean also places these majestic orchestrations before its crushing rhythmic pattern comes into play, followed by massive vocal parts and haunting leads perfectly fitting this desolate landscape, which continues with the icy winds of Destined To Decline, a composition that brings melancholy and sadness to life. There are also some more solemn clean voice parts that contrast with the waves of heaviness, then the final quietness leads us to Gnostic Dissensus, a short track with quite unexpected more modern and energetic sounds. The band still keeps gloomy tones in leads, then The Jupiterian Effect closes the album with an impressive and oppressive sound drawing from the roots of their dark and Old School style. Just when you think the song is over with a scary break, the rhythmic comes back to crush you one last time, before leaving you with some heady leads.
Very anchored in the Old School roots of the English Doom/Death, Sermon distills effective and melancholic riffs on Till Birth Do Us Part, a first album which risks making people speak very quickly about it within the international scene.
90/100