Review by Felix on October 23, 2023.

Honestly speaking, I thought that Candlemass do no longer want to release new studio albums. Nevertheless, now they have recorded eight tracks in a covert operation. I don't know why this full-length is released under a different banner, but Leif Edling leaves nothing to chance. Bad jokes aside, Sorcerer's debut lies in very close proximity to the last studio albums of the Swedish doom institution. The melody lines, the vocals, the basic atmosphere, almost each and every detail reminds me of Candlemass. Edling smiles contentedly. But don't get me wrong, I don't believe that the guys of Sorcerer love to appear as mere copyists. They just prefer the same style.

This means inter alia that the songs are not painfully slow. While setting the focus on mid-paced tunes, Sorcerer may not meet the expectation of doom metal purists. With that said, I have to admit that I am no doom expert and I appreciate the fairly "fast" tempo of the songs. That form of configuration increases the degree of liveliness, at least from my point of view. This does not mean that Sorcerer avoid any form of tranquil or slow sections. Inter alia the first part of the verse of "Lake of the Lost Souls" serves as an example in this context. But generally speaking, the songs have a certain pop appeal in view of their pleasant flows and the melodic designs. I don't mean this negatively. The songwriter duo Hagel and Niemann has a good instinct for smooth melodies which is not a bad thing at all. A lot of composers would be happy to be gifted with this talent.

Irrespective of the accessible song patterns which are emphasized by the polished production, Sorcerer don't forget to add some important elements. Desperation, sadness and occultism shimmer through the transparent, heavy sound, while especially the title track delivers the necessary degree of pressure and power. Its pumping main melody is definitely borrowed from Candlemass, but shit happens and the autonomous chorus is more than a mere compensation. The compact design is another advantage of the song. By contrast, the majority of the tunes offers an excessive configuration. Thank God, they don't abuse our patience in view of the profound components on which they are based. I have already mentioned the convincing, sometimes dramatic melodies, but I also must speak about the contribution of Anders Engberg. His powerful, voluminous voice adds a majestic touch. Without doubt, he is able to withstand the comparison with Edling's vocalists or with Sean Peck whose vigorous performance has ennobled the EP of Denner / Sherman.

"In the Shadow of the Inverted Cross" is neither innovative - or does anybody think that the rare use of keyboards is innovative? - nor breathtaking, but it is a more than solid work which is ornamented with an aesthetic artwork. In my humble opinion, Sorcerer enrich the doom metal scene. Only in their weakest moments, they spread the vibes of the colourful seventies. This is not my favourite decade, but the band fortunately does not intensely flirt with the hippie scene of this bygone era. I am very glad, because, as the crossover guys of Mucky Pup have said already, hippies hate water. But Sorcerer's debut doesn't stink.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10

Review by Nathan on April 18, 2020.

While overall a great label, I sometimes feel I, Voidhanger Records can be a little too weird for their own good. Their focus on unique, unsettling sounds means you’re guaranteed an acid trip of an album with every release, and more labels should definitely draw from that approach, but a lot of times what’s great on paper translates musically to albums that have a lot of curious stuff going on, but lack the riff base to properly ground that stuff. Panegyrist and Howls of Ebb are two good examples of that, and Spectral Lore loses me at times as well. Ambition has a downside, you can try and cover too much ground in the process and end up sounding like something that’s trying to be too many things.

Haunter is different, though. They have a full sound that has a much more natural interplay between instruments than a singular vision tends to have, which immediately puts them in a different ballpark than stuff like The Wakedead Gathering and Tchornobog. Not necessarily better or worse, just different. In addition, Voidhanger appears to build a lot of their bands from the ground up, whereas Haunter already caught a bit of buzz with their first full-length before they were picked up by the label. Again, neither an inherent good nor bad thing, but just a few characteristics surrounding the album that put Sacramental Death Qualia in a completely different context than what you may have come to expect from Voidhanger. Haunter is still definitely very weird and unique, but they never seem to strive for weirdness. This album is very organic in execution; the creepy dissonance and long, eerie acoustic passages sound incredibly purposeful and are extremely well integrated into the more discernible melodies. Putting it simply, Sacramental Death Qualia has meat. Dissonant, spooky, delicious meat.

The production is a lot smoother than it has been for the band in the past, which does remove a bit of the raw, unhinged power that Thrinodia had to it, but replaced is a focus on an atmosphere that is as uncomfortable as it is entrancing. 'Dispossessed Phrenic Antiquity' wastes no time in immediately hitting you with a morbid yet slightly math-y death metal riff, which is refreshing because atmospheric bands like to do long buildup intros most of the time, but I almost wouldn’t have minded it because the non-distorted melodies on Sacramental Death Qualia are fuckin excellent. The long, lighter guitars (found most notably in the second, third and final tracks) seems to hang above the music and create several melodies out of the overlapping reverb, mixing creepy yet consonant textures together in consistently stimulating ways. Some people might think they're a bit overlong, but I'm so enthralled by them the whole time that I don't even care. The riffs play with lots of different textures, but never to the point where they sound disparate from one another. Everything ties into the tense, creepy theme, only making it more intricate. It’s like marveling at someone’s beauty and then watching them die two minutes later.

As good as the cleaner parts are, though, this is a riff-focused album, never content to stick to one riff for too long, with every new riff bringing an off-kilter yet catchy bend. Haunter’s sense of melody is at once original, catchy and immersive, which is enough of a reason to check this out, but all of my little imaginary boxes are checked on top of that: the vocals are sometimes buried, but never overtake the mix and come into the foreground at the right times. The drums are notably skilled while tasteful enough to remain in the background, and the way the instruments feed off of each other is addicting to listen to. Normally when I review albums I score them based on two things: one, how long I can listen to the album without getting sick of it, and two, if I do have to leave the room or take my headphones out, how compelled I am to pause it. I can listen to Sacramental Death Qualia several times in succession and still want another go, and I’ve always paused it so far.

Rating: 9.1 out of 10