Seal of Beleth - Seal of Beleth

SEAL OF BELETH - Seal of Beleth (Patologian Laboratorio Productions - CD 2015)

I got this CD from Wolfspell Records, but it was actually released on Patologian Laboratorio Productions in just 200 copies, so there are not many copies available. But I must say that this is really good album and if you ever have a chance to grab a copy, then do it with no hesitation. Especially if you’re a fan of slow, doomy metal stuff, as this is what Seal of Beleth has to offer. Damn. I started to listen to their self titled album with some scepticism, since I’ve never of this Finnish band before and the artwork is just shite haha! But never judge the book by its cover, as they say. In this case it’s the only thing which I don’t like, everything else is simply fantastic and it’s just damn great and well performed doom metal.

And it’s stuff, which has a great shadow of the final Celtic Frost record over it; as well as Triptykon of course, especially in the song called “Statue of Failure”!!! Seal of Beleth creates kind of similar dark and obscure, sick aura with these absolutely fantastic hypnotizing, heavy riffs. They’re crawling like some monstrous, horrid creatures from the darkest shadows, strangulating and crushing with no merciful feelings at all. And it’s awesome that even if the music of Seal of Beleth is slow it never awakes a boredom or monotonous feeling. The band managed to compose four lengthy songs (with each being ten or more minutes long), but they don’t tend to sound like never-ending torture that you wish could end soon. They are actually full of variety, Seal of Beleth did wise job and even if the music is based on traditional doom metal skeleton, then there are also some leans towards darker, obscure and more eerie sound, maybe some more easily listenable and quiet parts (opening theme for “Statue of Failure”) and even a bit of black / doom stuff, especially towards the end of the album in “Amon Unbound”, where the pace fastens up nicely. So, a lot is going on, also the vocals are well performed as together with harsh shriek or growling you can hear some great clean singing. Oh, just listen to “Nightmares”, a song with nice (almost post metal) groove and tension that grows and grows until the final seconds. But even more I like “Statue of Failure”; it has a quiet, calm beginning and turns into the heaviest riffs on the whole album, a lot like Celtic Frost’s “Monotheist”. But generally all four songs bring interesting music, with great arrangements and ideas, I think the whole album is very even and from start till finish I enjoyed it fully. Very recommended, although you must remember that there are not so many copies available.

Standout track: “Statue of Failure”

Final rate: 75/100