Sacrament Ov Impurity are a two piece back metal band hailing from Mount Vernon, Washington. Its a rural, agricultural area far removed from the hustle and bustle of city life. I imagine that, just as many European black metal bands come from small towns, there is something about the distance and isolation from urban chaos that allows bands to focus on their creativity and bring life to this music.
And what music this is. Black metal is full of grimness;listening to it often evokes feelings of loneliness, isolation, of being in a cold, frostbitten landscape devoid of any colors except black and white and shades of gray. Yet to me, it is also very beautiful and trancelike, and when done with the right touches it is music that takes you away from the normal drudgery of existence and moves the listener on to a different plane, almost as though it pulls the listener into another dimension. There is some incredibly moving music on this album. The opener, “An Apparation of Bygone Lament”, is like a journey through the history of black metal, sharing various tempos and styles and melding them all into a cohesive blast that frees the spirit. “Sepulture Of Modern Man” is a masterpiece, the kind of song that allows you to close your eyes and feel the different places where music can take you. The middle section of this song is simply epic in the way that it made me feel.
I also enjoy hearing the growth in the songwriting, the extra little touches that went into these songs. There is some experimentation with black and roll types of beats in places. There are some very judiciously placed synths that add just the right touch to these songs. The overall feeling is that this band is very confident and assured both in the songwriting and performances captured here. To my ears there is tremendous growth just in the roughly 18 months since their last release. This is a band that deserves to be heard and hopefully this album will be the springboard that allows them to do more touring and take part in more festivals.
Black metal is seemingly a limited sub-genre, yet bands like this take the basics and move the music forward in all sorts of new directions. As a big fan of this style of music I love to hear releases like this. It gives me hope that the music will continue to grow. Do yourself a favor, head to Bandcamp and pick up a copy of this one. Black metal is alive and well and this album is all the proof you need.
-ODIN