Band:	Sektarism
Album:	Le Son Des Stigmates
Style:	Funeral doom metal
Release date:	April 20, 2012
A review by:	Doc G.

01. Prelude
02. Hosanna Sathana
03. Le Testament

Ever listen to music that walks that line between "hey, this is twistedly chaotic" and "What is this, amateur hour?" Yup, that's Sektarism for you.

It's probably not hard to guess you're looking at some type of basement child here. No, not black metal, but instead, some hip, dirty-ass funeral doom. It's a bit strange to make yourself comfortable with Le Son Des Stigmates, aside from the fact that it isn't exactly the most uplifting music in the world. On one hand, it almost sounds like a dragging funeral-ized version of Lurk; tangible riffs mixed with a conscious effort toward atmosphere. Hell, even throw in what could be some good ol' Attila Csihar appreciation in the vocal department, and it's a pretty solid bundle going on here.

On the other more obvious hand, this does frequently sound not so much lo-fi as it does amateurish. The problem is, the songs run for roughly 20 minutes a pop, but there ain't 30 minutes worth of material to be found here, total, and it seems they know that. Instead of trimming the fat, they wander into these intensely chaotic passages that begin as somewhat menacing, then dwindle into the sound of your 14-year-old cousin's garage band hammering away randomly on their instruments in the next room.

Le Son Des Stigmates is an album I really want to enjoy, but this just feels like a small handful of good ideas stretched over 46 minutes. Sektarism are raw, dark and crushing at their best; unfortunately, their best could have easily been condensed into a 20 minute EP.