A Flock Named Murder – Incendiary Sanctum review

01. Garden Of Embers
02. Pierced Flesh Catharsis
03. The Eulogy Fields
04. To Drown In Obsidian Tides

It’s been a long seven years since A Flock Named Murder first made their mark on the metal underground with An Appointed Time; however, when one experiences the gargantuan nature of Incendiary Sanctum, one can understand why a record such as this might take some time to be fully refined.

Formed by brothers Cam and Ryan Mueller, A Flock Named Murder is not the only musical project the pair have worked on together; previous iterations of the group include Goliath and Sovereign (under which moniker they released the Ephemeral EP), while the brothers also formed and disbanded Vela Pulsar in the gap between A Flock Named Murder‘s two albums today. Back focused on their ‘main’ band (in which they are joined by bassist/vocalist Mike Wandy), the ensemble have crafted something intricate and at times overwhelming in the form of Incendiary Sanctum.

Stylistically, the record is a blend of black metal with sludge, post-, doom and other genres; I would say black metal of various forms (generally of a more melodic persuasion) prevails as the most consistently present sound, but there’s a good amount of genre-hopping on display across each of the 4 lengthy songs featured in the tracklist (each is over 13 minutes). The opening track, “Garden Of Embers”, was first released as a single back in 2022, and now finds itself a home in which to fully show off its elaborate blend of tranquil post-rock atmospherics (the opening few minutes of the song are soft, airy and melodic), luminous atmo-black, and gradually escalating extremity in the form of increasingly prevalent blasts and harsher riffss, albeit with satisfying melodic solos near the end to cap everything off.

To begin with, “Pierced Flesh Catharsis” continues with the atmospheric black approach that accounted for much of the opening track, but it doesn’t take long for it to go in a fiercer and more extreme direction, with blasts a-plenty, more savage riffing and howling rasps, yet the lighter and more melodic side of the band is given its time in the sun as well during the song’s midsection. There’s something about the gargled tone of the vocals during this track that gives me a bit of a George Clarke vibe, but Deafheaven this isn’t, especially when everything slows right down into a bleak doomy trudge in the closing minutes. The sludgier inclinations of A Flock Named Murder are placed in a leading role at the start of “To Drown In Obsidian Tides”, and the grim manner in which they descend into murkier and more extreme death metal waters afterwards takes my mind somewhat to the similarly genre-fluid extremity of Inter Arma.

That said, A Flock Named Murder never plummet to the depths of extremity that Inter Arma are frequently capable of, and across the expansive closing duo of songs that comprise over 35 minutes of material between them, there’s a healthy range of dynamics and tonalities, all held together by a consistent blackened edge to everything. As alluded to in the previous paragraph, closing song “To Drown In Obsidian Tides” is generally on the harsher side, but still finds times for delicate acoustic passages. In contrast, “The Eulogy Fields” gives comparable time in the spotlight to warm meloblack riffs, blistering dissonance, and spacious tranquillity; the balance of the disparate facets of their sound is probably most effectively realized on this song, making it both the centrepiece and highlight of the record.

Incendiary Sanctum is an accomplished release; it manages to balance its atmospheric inclinations, tendencies for savagery, melodic sensibilities and occasional urges for further exploration rather effectively. I will say that it’s not an album that ranks highly in memorability; with so much to digest, it’s hard for individual moments to shine through, and there’s not much in the way of irresistible hooks or peak climactic sequences outside of the solos in “Garden Of Embers” and “The Eulogy Fields”. Therefore, this is an album that I appreciate and respect without necessarily loving, but I have a healthy admiration for A Flock Named Murder’s scope and ambition.

Written on 20.05.2025 by Hey chief let’s talk why not