Sulfuric – Macabre Festivities

This time it’s not because of my laziness or lack of interest in the music that I first write a review of the material released at the end of 2023. The truth is that I received this CD just recently from Iron Fist Productions. Furthermore, we have presented Sulfuric band to our readers after they released their 2021 debut nine-tracker album Into the Darkness. Thus, I’ll not use the space here to tell the entire history of the band other than to tell that Sulfuric is a trio consisting of Bonebreaker (buzzsaw & shrieks from beyond), Goliath (bulldozer bass & deathchants) & Philty ‘Ripper’ Collins (sledgehammer drums & maniacal screams). Alone from this description of their band duties tells you that we’re dealing here with maniacal and dirty mix of mainly black and thrash metal, much in the vein of Venom, Kreator, Toxic Holocaust, Nifelheim, Sodom etc.

Macabre Festivities is their sophomore full-length containing 10 rather fast and short tracks with running time of app. 33 minutes. Due to the short nature of the songs one never really gets bored or uninspired while listening to this new rager from Sulfuric. From the opening shout on self-titled “Macabre Festivities” to the closing track “Sulfuric Might” one is definitely entertained and in my own case enjoying the thrill and this fantastic thrashing speed ride.

The energy and enthusiasm these guys have is second to none. I’m perfectly aware of the cliché you’ve heard before, but the fact is here that with each track on Macabre Festivities one feels like being buried alive. When they slow down a bit then one ‘only’ feels as being sonically attacked with some deadly guttural and hellish growls, unforgivning and pummeling drums, a whole wave of static-soaked and fast riffs and bulldozing bass. There’re also a couple of mid-paced songs, where the band provides a brief break, exemplified with songs such as “The Oak Tree” and “Dark Desires”.

After the opening the gates of hell with a piece of the same name, it gets even better and stronger by the second track entitled “Hunter Killers”, much due to the catchiness and varied nature of the song. Things gets even faster and more insane on the third track named “The Manslayer”. This is probably the most varied yet the most demanding track, with great amount of technical diversity and inclusion of different elements from thrash/black/gloom/dark metal. On the other hand, a fourth track “Cannon Fodder”, is a classic straight-up thrash metal anthem with no much diversity left, only a thrash metal assault, much in the vein of the aforementioned Kreator and Sodom. Following one is called “The Oak Tree”, a mid-paced thrash/black metal song, while “Bavarian Nightmares” features some cracking d-beat elements and predominant riff-driven heavy metal.

The biggest improvement I noticed is when it comes to the production; it has obviously improved compared to its predecessor. This time it is loud yet clear, dirty yet listenable, where even the howling and guttural vocals are understandable and relatively easy to adapt to.

Visit their bandcamp for further information on the latest opus from Sulfuric and give yourself a good shot of sonic adrenaline provided by this venomous unholy heavy/thrash/black metal trio from Sweden.