Sardinia is, for most people, a sunny vacation destination in the Mediterranean where you can enjoy the summer and burn yourself on one of the many beaches. However, Sardinia is also an island with a rich history dating back to the Bronze Age. It is an island with an occult and legend-filled history, which we already touched on earlier this week in the review of fellow islanders Vultur, and just like that band, Unholy Impurity occasionally makes use of their local language, which makes it all just a bit more obscure.
In front of me lies *Oculus Mortis*, the second full album of these Sardinian metalheads. After *Bone Worship* from 2019, which delved a bit more into their ancient culture, there was a bit of silence, but now they’re back—and how. I don’t know what’s in the water on this island, but if they bottled it and sold it to the Black Metal scene as “inspiration water” or something I would buy it, this album is awesome. How awesome? Think of old Mayhem and Watain when they were still at their peak.
Raw, brutal Black Metal that cuts into your flesh like a bone-made knife, preparing you for an ancient ritual that brings stones and bones back to life and transports you to long-forgotten decades. Solid compositions that tear like an old piece of leather and definitely won’t leave you cold. Eight tracks and a kind of audio play called The Healer, which sounds so convincing that you almost smell the blood and fire when you close your eyes.
It all starts a bit slower with Into the Abyss, but the speed picks up quickly, and then you can hear the very convincing production in all its glory. With Black Magic, we really get into it, and I can also hear clear Rotting Christ influences with these guys, just like with Vultus. So, we’re not only traveling through the Scandinavian fjords but also crossing the Mediterranean.
Ancient Stones of Death then connects to the island’s occult cult and does so very convincingly. A real banger is definitely The Oldest One, also one of the highlights of the album, a bit more distinctive than the other tracks. Another highlight is definitely the fast and brutal Treutos Corrudos, what a drummer—clear and fast changes with a nice bass. All of this while singer Erkitu delivers the lyrics almost like a sermon, completing the ritual.
The closer Requiem is like a grand finale, with its 9 minutes being the longest track on the album and certainly not the least. Enough variation is packed into this track to keep it from becoming tiresome, which can sometimes happen with songs of such length.
I’ll wrap it up now because I need to book a vacation, and it’s going to be Sardinia because I need to get a few bottles of that local drinking water.
90/100
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