Holland makes amazing metal, and has since helping to form the genre of death metal. Sempiternal Deathreign’s only full length, The Spooky Gloom, may be one of the absolute most under-rated death metal records of not all time, not just the formative years of the genre, however. Featuring future members of both Sinister and Eternal Solstice, The Spooky Gloom captures early European death metal at it’s absolute most visceral and vital; Sempiternal Deathreign explore a wide swath of atmospheres and sounds, from doom to frenetic blasting death, and do it the same year that Morbid Angel released Altars of Madness.
The vocalist, Frank Fasse, was apparently only 16 years old when this record was recorded, making him apparently somewhere between 13 and 14 years old when the band was started in 1986. His delivery is POWERFUL, and he manages to roar with that raw sewage torn throat tone common to Pungent Stench, while being not just contemporary to them, but having put out a rehearsal demo a year prior to Pungent Stench’s formation. Riffss and tempos vary between high speed grinding thrash, not unlike Repulsion, to Autopsy speed doom, all accompanied by dynamic and skillful drumming that evolves throughout the songs, never staying repetitive.
The Spooky Gloom deserves a modern repress, it’s such a shame that a treasure remains unavailable. Sempiternal Deathreign seem to be absolute pioneers in the genre and I’m astounded that this record hasn’t been widely lauded and bootlegged over the last few decades.
https://www.metal-archives.com/albums/Sempiternal_Deathreign/The_Spooky_Gloom/36603
Berserker Hymns 