NEKUS
NEKUS “Sepulchral Divination”
By Dr. Abner Mality
Any album that has “sepulchral” in its title is pretty much a known quantity. So it is with “Sepulchral Divination”, the newest platter of down-tuned cavernous filth from German/Italian outfit NEKUS. When it comes to primitive, bestial death metal, you’ll have to travel a ways to find something that beats this.
The press compares the band to ENCOFFINATION, ANATOMIA and GRAVE UPHEAVAL. That just about covers it. Super sludgy doom riffs, echoing incomprehensible roars, thudding drums are all necessary components of NEKUS. They generally find a groove and stick to it, but they occasionally turn the tempo up to furnace-like levels. If you are a sucker for this kind of putrid doom death, you’ll find enjoyment here….to a point. There is a certain level of repetition where your eyes start to glaze over and things just become soporific...even bestial, ugly things. I reached that point with “Katabasis”. Sometimes too much is just...too much.
Final track “Elysion” shows a somewhat more ambient side to NEKUS. It’s plodding and dark, but not as sludgy. It focuses more on just depressing, engulfing tones and steady drumbeat than riffing death metal. Recommended only for the truly suicidal. End analysis of “Sepulchral Divination” is that this is for the most subterranean and hopeless of death-doom fans. Be warned!