Artist: Seraphic Castration
Country: Canada
Label: Spiritual Warfare / War Vellum
Formats: Demo Tape
Year: 2026
From the ashes of Gotthammer and the extremely fertile Canadian underground, not only did the recently resurfaced Melth rise again, but now Seraphic Castration as well. Although the line-ups of both bands consist of the same two people, Melth is a more experimental venture that leans heavier on the Kiloton work of C.B. (or whichever of his pseudonyms you prefer). Seraphic Castration is actually the musical and spiritual continuation of Gotthammer, minus guitarist Félix ‘Sonic Reducer’ Morneau. That means we can brace ourselves for some seriously brutal and utterly savage hammering in the right Canadian fashion.
And, that is exactly what this 11-minute first demo is offering. It doesn’t take a whole lot of imagination to understand that this is just basically Gotthammer 2.0. While not 100% an exact copy of Gotthammer’s sonic trademark, the majority of what we’re hearing is close enough to make sure that everyone who thought Gotthammer died a premature death will be satisfied with how things turned out. In a way you can say Gotthammer did the Nihilist/Entombed trick, just carrying on with one band member less. In a way, it is of course a shame that the band has to continue without the name that Gotthammer has built up and that a personnel change was necessary, but sometimes things just turn out that way.
On the musical side of things, however, it is just old ideas parading as new ones. And that I do say that in the kindest way possible. It is a true relief and surely satisfying to hear these guys getting back to what they were doing so well with Gotthammer. The smothering forward pressure is exactly the same as how we came to know them in 2023. The differences will really only be apparent in the ultimate prosectors and pathologists. It seems the guitars have a slightly sharper edge and there’s just a tiny bit of a colder tone on the overall production that might reveal the experience gained in Kiloton. In the individual songs there’s a little bit of a variety as well, especially the waning moments of ‘Heaven, Defaced’ when the tempo slows down for an almost sacral finale.
For various reasons, I found it very sad to see Gotthammer laid to rest, but if this is what we got in return, I think we can count ourselves lucky. ‘Demon(stration)’ is, in any case, a more than satisfying first introduction to what will hopefully have a longer life than Gotthammer.
