Sortilegia - Sulphurous Temple album review

Sonically similar to Nidrosian black metal’s leading legions Mare and Vemod, the second album from Toronto’s Sortilegia once more utilises satisfyingly repetitive passages of ugly simplistic dirge to great effect. Seemingly endless waves of dissonant guitar and drum battery clamour onwards at an almost unchanging tone, creating a trance-inducing focus that gives Sulphurous Temple a reflective quality. More engaging than the bleak, moody minimalism of 2014’s Arcane Death Ritual, Sulphurous Temple has a slightly more clear-sounding production that brings the band’s elemental core into sharper focus. The shrieking vocal intonations of velvet-clad guitar witch Koldovstvo are subtly blended behind the mix to create an almost instrumental feel to proceedings, and due to the unchanging pace and hypnotic atmospherics each track blends almost seamlessly as one.