Yes, I joke about the relative “sameness” of death meal, but it’s crazy how small touches or changes to a band’s attack will yield large results. Take a look (or a listen, I guess) at Funeral Sanctum, the latest and first album in five years from Portland, Oregon’s Witch Vomit. They’re a band I’ve always appreciated but never went out of my way to listen to. over the course of their career they’ve gotten down pat the obligatory tenets of death metal, all perfectly executed if not earth shattering in its uniqueness. Then I heard the first single “Blood Abomination” and my ears perked up: hints of dare I say melody were peeking through the murk of death metal guitars and thrashy breakdowns that opened up the dynamics of the songwriting. Witch Vomit, you had my curiosity…now you have my attention.

At 30 minutes there’s no fat to be found anywhere on Funeral Sanctum; even the brief intro opening track “Dying Embers” captures the thematic shift of the album into more melodic territory. From there we’re off to the races with “Endless Fall” and it’s immediately clear (ha!) that this is much shinier beast. The production is razor sharp, allowing the guitars and drums to really lock in without that sludgy swamp vibe a lot of death metal has nowadays. It’s lightning fast, and as vocalist Tempter’s roar pans across the soundstage it’s probably the first time I really keyed in on the vocals rather than an instrument. He’s also sharing guitar duties with CL, and while there’s not a lot of harmonization here they make great use of separating the tracks so it feels like two distinct guitars – one of my pet peeves with 2 guitar bands is when the production slams everything together so it just sounds like one massive six-string attack. A fenced guitar solo kicks off “Blood Abomination” and the hints of melodic black metal that pepper the verses take an already frantic song and push it into overdrive, as do the copious dive bombs and four on the floor drum assault. We do finally get those harmonized leads on the intro to “Serpentine Shadows” as well as a slight down-tick in tempo. The song takes on a majesty with the riffs, and it’s also the first the bass playing of JG really stands out. Just for the slightly more paced tempo and the clear structure in the songwriting this is one of my favorite tracks on the album. The side closes out with “Decaying Angelic Flesh” and beyond being a devilishly good song title invokes some serious early Slayer vibes.

Side B opts for a more twisted, doom-inspired approach. “Black Wings of Desolation” opens with a monstrous crawl before the black metal riff solos a shift to blast beats and furious riffing. The verse melody has a definite ear worm hook, again thanks to how slickly produced Funeral Sanctum is (and I mean that in the best way). Great solos top the track off before we head into the abyss of “Dominion of a Darkened Realm” which wastes no time in getting started, emphasizing the black metal elements with tremolo pickings and another blasting attack on the drums. The songs seem to speed by, but rather than seem like a blur of prehistoric roars, you get the feel of actual songs – I know, everything we cover has “songs” but with death metal there’s always the potential to be so compressed and narrow in your frequency range that if you not actively listening to every second it sounds like a consistent blur from beginning to end. Witch Vomit don’t have that problem – even at 100mph the songs feel separate and distinct. For example, with a song length of only one minute “Endarkened Spirits” goes by in a flash, but there’s enough punch and dynamic there to feel like a whole song.

From there we hit the brief interlude of “Abject Silence” (and I can’t help but think how cool it would have been if the track were simply two minutes of silence, or just ambient space) before the title track finishes Funeral Sanctum in style. For my money this is by far Witch Vomit’s most accomplished album, with growth in aspect of their sound yet not sacrificing any of their brutality. And if this deep dive into three recent offerings from 20 Buck Spin have taught me anything, it’s that they’re going to continuing laughing all the way to the bank because despite my best efforts I can’t help but love and buy what they’re putting out.

Even if I still gently chide…

You can also check out Angela’s review for the album over at Nine Circles here.