SEPULCHRAL AURA (Fin) - Unofficial demo 2007 CD-R (self-released)
Now here's something truly remarkable and fresh from this newcoming project of one J. Partanen. Let's give it a haphazard shot in trying to describe Sepulchral Aura's sound: riffs radiating pure necrotic evil, remiscient of the finest of the old school Finnish and Swedish Death Metal, colliding with the shrapnel tornado of the likes of Lust and Revenge all the way to the unearthly rumbling chaos of Portal, topped by a insane vocal performance and leads as penned and strangled by a deranged bastard brother of Trey Azagthoth -also the visionary aspect in the concept and the more experimental instrumentations herein (surely J. Partanen's strong ambient background didn't do any harm, eh?) attest that we're in for one of the most obscure, original and just plain greatest entities to rise from Finland since Hail. All three songs stand out as separate bursts of barely controlled elemental forces evoken. Watch out for a proper pro-demo CD release of this demonstration soon on Ahdistuksen Aihio and more great things to come from this act!
[ Offensor @ Kaleidoscope #4 ]


SEPULCHRAL AURA - Unofficial demo 2007
Simply awesome, by every definition. A mysterious Finnish newcomer throwing caution to the wind and creating an idiosyncratic whirlwind of overwhelming, shambling proportions, ‘black/death’ in the most flattering, non-fence-riding sense of the term, like Dark Recollections or An Evil Shade Of Grey malformed into something simultaneously more tuneful and bestial. So many layers of hurtful, alchemical/alcoholic wisdom here, and yet so disarmingly wide-open - one of those records that makes you feel small and insignificant, but somehow inspiring all the same. Almost perfect.
5.5 (points out of 6)
[ Nathan T. Birk @ Zero Tolerance magazine ]


SEPULCHRAL AURA - Demonstrational CD MMVII
Should you happen to mail-order this CD, you will know its arrival is imminent well before Postie reaches your door. The whiffs of cordite and burnt flesh will give it away along with the sensation in your inner ear as it detects the faraway whump of exploding heavy ordnance. Expect it to arrive in a dynamite box.
Even the less astute amongst you will have twigged that “Demonstrational 2007” is not going to be blessed by keyboards, female vocals or folky jigs, here comes Captain Chaos in his blood encrusted jackboots. This Black /Death hybrid bears many of the hallmarks of War Metal, in fact CONQUEROR will spring to mind frequently throughout the CD and that can only be a good thing. The anarchic nature of this music is such that boiling pools of disorder are strung together with little in the way of regimentation joining them, it's something of a black hole necklace, the spiralling vortex makes the observing rather dizzying like trying to count the cows in a tornado after it has laid waste to a dairy farm.
Lending your ear to SEPULCHRAL AURA is to acknowledge the sound of being hell-fucked, just try and stand upright as “The Bright Temple Of Death” bluntdrills itself into being, an ataxia of guitar sending sparks flying before the cold contempt of the turbodozer comes a'crushing. You have a choice of two ordeals to endure here; the violent bludgeon of heavy rhythmic blast or the violent disarray of corkscrew lead (which is underpinned by the violent bludgeon of heavy rhthmic blast.) The pandemonium that ensues threatens to degenerate into a miasma of noise but somehow the surge manages to maintain the merest element of cohesion, just enough to keep you with it.
With such tumult, you would expect the vocals to follow suit, (un)rest assured, they bounce between unhinged and deranged, manic screaming, guttural bellows and sneering snarls all visit unpleasantness upon the unfortunate listener, perversely at the end of the opening track you also find a Halford-esque wail coming from out of nowhere, bizarre. You won't be surprised to be told that there is also a confusion of pace throughout the album, the mainstay locomotive tempo often squeals under braking as slower but equally nasty dynamics partake in the destruction. Oh yes, destruction there is, maniac drumming and sonic boom bass ensure that carnage is guaranteed, any mention of ceasefire would have SEPULCHRAL AURA spitting feathers.
As unrelenting as all this is, there are moments that allow just enough time to regain your senses before the barrage returns, there is a sublime moment towards the end of the final track that is quite haunting as a slow and mournful guitar refrain ends the CD like a doomed battleship giving itself up to the sea, the powerhouse of the percussion pistoning to the last. Elsewhere the sheer tumbling variety of turmoil makes this a masochistic delight, you've all been very bad girls and boys and this is your punishment.
“Demonstrational 2007” is an essential listen, it verges on the terrifying and is diabolical in the truest sense, ironically its challenge to your hearing is likely to make any demon in hell stay put rather than answer its summoning.
[ Metal Observer webzine ]
[ Original review at: http://www.metal-observer.com/articles.php?lid=1&sid=1&id=13159 ]


SEPULCHRAL AURA - Demonstrational CD MMVII
Way too seldom one comes across with such ready demos as Sepulchral Aura's Demonstrational CD MMVII, steered by the multi-talent J. Partanen. It's not that these ca. 20 minutes of harsh death/black metal have no lackings whatsoever, but for a demo the result is rather outstanding in quality.
Thus it is more than understandable that this disc has been released in a decent pro-CD format by Ahdistuksen Aihio and despite the professional pressing the disc is being sold with a demo price. The basis for this is to be found in the fact that although the chaotic and violent metal of SA surely demands raw sound, not all has been finished thoroughly.
Frantic solos, ripping, blackness-emitting riffs and berserk mauling of the drums are well put together, as well as the gnarling vocals reflecting the harshness of the disc, ranging between screaming and growling. One can almost cut the atmosphere with a knife.
But the last finishing, which would probably make this demo perfect, is what we're lacking here. The whole works very well, but the tracks themselves don't burn any larger-than-life memory imprints to your brain, or don't differ enough from each other. In all its rawness, harshness and seeming lack of sanity the demo 2007 is killer stuff and definitely worth the scrutiny of a deathmetal fan, whose leanings are more toward the blacker and the primitive. Hopefully we'll hear more refined stuff next time, and preferably in the form of a full-length.
4.5 / 5
[ Serpent @ Imperiumi.net ] [ Translation by J. Partanen ]
[ Original review (in Finnish) at: http://www.imperiumi.net/dem_2.php?id=1724 ]