SEPULCHRAL is a Basque Death Metal entity out of Bilbao, Spain, formed in 2016 and now in 2025 releasing their second full length album through Soulseller Records. Featuring beautiful artwork by Romanian painter Luciana Nedelea, SEPULCHRAL’s “Beneath The Shroud” presents us ten songs of very driving Death Metal and a moody instrumental intro. While you can find some more introspective parts, like the ones in ‘Torchless Crossroads’, most songs are driven by skank beats and some double bass parts from start to finish. In a way you could compare their style to Black / Thrash Metal bands, especially since the vocals border between Black and Death Metal and could work well with both styles. On the other hand, because of the constant skank / D-Beat drumming and simplistic but effective riffing, you can also draw the comparison to a band like BENEDICTION, or to UNLEASHED’s style on “Where No Life Dwells”, or a Swedish Death Metal band like COMECON, but lacking the buzzsaw guitar tone. Yet unlike these bands, you can find some double time skank beats, that are not quite blast beats, accompanied by fast tremolo riffs, that are not exactly typical Death Metal, but sort of sound playful in a way that Metal musicians inspired by local traditional music might sound. Another comparison I can draw, because of the constant use of skank beats in the drumming, while also aiming at playing Death Metal, is to another band out of Spain, CRUZ from Barcelona, yet SEPULCHRAL seem to offer a bit more variety than CRUZ. The production is nice and clear in a way that you can notice all the instruments, clanky bass and all, while being clearly rhythm guitar driven. From what I could tell from the liner notes, the few guitar solos present are done by guest musician Pestilence Breeder. This album might not be for someone who’s more into atmospheric or Slam adjacent Death Metal, but if you’re into Crust, Black / Thrash or fast and primitive old school Death Metal this is highly recommended. www.facebook.com/sepulchraldeathmetal, www.facebook.com/soulsellerrecords