The second full-length from Copenhagen's Sulphurous is being brought to us by three labels, one of which is Dark Descent, who are handling the CD and digital versions, and we've been paying very close attention to Dark Descent over the past several years. 

The label has proven themselves to be right up there as one of the best in extreme music today, and releases like this are why, with Sulphurous coming out of the cave strong on first cut “Emanated Trepidation”, the band slogging it out through a grinding misery, bringing to mind Incantation with a bit more sunshine—like, it's still the shittiest, cloudiest day ever, but back behind the bleakness there is just a teeny bit of blue sky that Incantation just refuse to acknowledge but Sulphurous sort of do through a slightly less oppressive production and more clear sound. But that's it, the tunes themselves are horribly dire, and they're also not so much individual songs as they are pieces of one long piece of atmosphere, really, the 6:30 of the opener leading into the 6:22 of “Dry Breath Of The Tomb”, each song grinding, sludging, deathing, spelunking, man, I'm really sold here. 

“Shadows Writhing Like Black Wings” (7:14, song 3 of 6, to give you an idea of how things are unfolding here) starts with an eerie, subdued sound that works, “Eyes Black Fury” creates a smothering malevolence with its grinding sludge and it's incredible; the title track and closer “Gazing Into The Patch Of Darkness” continue the journey to its predictably dour yet inspiring conclusion, this release absolutely one of the best death metal records I heard in 2021, Sulphurous creating with ease more vibe than most bands could handle, and delivering it with the flow of old pros. Fantastic.