Review: Sublimatio Mortis - Ghur

Artist: Sublimatio Mortis

Album: Ghur

Label: Cyclic Law / Dark Odyssey / Scarlet Kross

Release date: October 2025

This sublime Canadian project (if you'll excuse the pun) should be a household name to all readers of this website by now, not least because of the fact that over the past year or so I have already reviewed both their stellar sophomore album and the follow-up EP, both of which positioned Sublimatio Mortis as one of the essential names to keep an eye out for in the dark/ritual ambient scene. The duo's creative juices are obviously still flowing, as a few months back they released another full-length of such magnitude that its weight had to be born by no less than three of the finest dark ambient labels around, and it took me months to digest it to the point where I would be able to properly put its features into words with my limited human vocabulary.

If this introduction sounds suspiciously grandiose for my standards, that's only because the scope of Ghur deserves it. Whereas the previous releases were either split into more-or-less conventionally timed tracks or made as a singular long track instead, on this album Sublimatio Mortis really cast aside any preconceived notions of album structure and go after their creative urges with unbridled enthusiasm. The result is almost an hour's worth of material, split into three monumental tracks that amount to (sometimes radically) different facets of one core theme, as obscure and as metaphysical as ever. In one of my previous reviews, I described the music as a curious combination of Sunn O))) and Phurpa, and this impression has only been amplified on this release, as the duo make everything more intense and more prominent this time around, both the captivating guttural throat chanting by C. Undirheimar and the immensely dense drones courtesy of M. Massaya, with the two not simply mashed together, but carefully phased to shine enough light on each element. To their credit, Sublimatio Mortis never fall into the trap of mistaking intensity for loudness, a fact made manifest in the last track, which manages to be relentless without ever being sonically overwhelming, resulting in an enchanting experience that belies its 20+ minutes of running time. Ghur certainly requires a certain level of attention and focus from the listener, but once the attunement is there, it's so gripping that it never lets go, and I can attest that it's one of the few albums where on several occasions I thought I had mistakenly skipped a track or similar because I simply couldn't believe that an hour had gone by already.

It seems like Sublimatio Mortis are on a roll and that there's no stopping them any time soon, with Ghur perhaps the pinnacle of their work so far, even if a part of me instinctively feels like - despite the total absence of light at this point already - they have further chasmic depths to plunge into and explore. As we await further offerings from the abyss, I really hope that someone gets the band to Europe so that we can experience their utter darkness in a live setting.

Rating: 9/10