Perdition Temple – Malign Apotheosis Review

By Mark Z.

Since coming to prominence as the guitarist and primary songwriter of Angelcorpse in the 1990s, Gene Palubicki has been tearing a burning warpath through the extreme metal underground, scorching eardrums with projects like his (sadly defunct) death-thrash band Blasphemic Cruelty and his current collaboration with Morbid Angel’s Steve Tucker and Origin’s John Longstreth1 in the death metal supergroup Malefic Throne. My favorite of Gene’s post-Angelcorpse projects, however, is Perdition Temple, probably because it sounds the most like Angelcorpse. In fact, as noted by the great Al Kikuras years ago in his review of the band’s 2015 sophomore album The Tempter’s Victorious, the band’s 2010 debut Edict of the Antichrist Elect was originally intended to be the fifth Angelcorpse album. Ever since Mr. Kikuras’s evocative prose turned me on to Perdition Temple, I’ve slowly become a salivating fanboy for them, going from trying to make sense of what the fuck I was hearing to scaring soccer moms in my neighborhood by walking around in a hoodie adorned with the album art of The Tempter’s Victorious (with inverted crosses on the sleeves for good measure).

After Tempter‘s, Gene stripped the band down to a power trio consisting of himself on vocals and guitar, Alex Blume (Ares Kingdom, ex-Blasphemic Cruelty) on bass, and Ron Parmer (Malevolent Creation, Brutality) behind the kit. This lineup appeared on 2020’s Sacraments of Descension (which was an enjoyable album that I probably underrated at the time) and 2022’s Merciless Upheaval (which was really more of a glorified EP, given that half of its eight songs were covers). Now, this same crew is back with 2025’s Malign Apotheosis, another firestorm of an album with just enough of a different approach to still feel fresh.

Of course, Perdition Temple are the sort of underground band that are never going to stray too far from their signature formula. And indeed, this album’s scalding blackened death metal approach is largely similar to what Perdition Temple have always done. The opening track, “Resurrect Damnation,” shows Gene’s trademark six-string attack leading the charge as well as we’ve ever heard it, with the song crammed full of supercharged Morbid Angel riffs, rapidly churning tremolos, lightning-speed solos, a vaguely thrashy midsection, and a quick devilish motif that just barely holds everything together.

“Quick” actually turns out to be apt description for these eight tracks as a whole. While Perdition Temple have always been fast, prior albums often incorporated notable slower moments to add some memorability and variety to the mayhem. Here, only “Kingdoms of the Bloodstained” really slows down for any decent amount of time, with its abrasive mid-tempo bridge sounding like Immolation reforged in the fires of blackened death metal. Most of these tracks instead take the approach of the follow-up song, “Purging Conflagration,” which maniacally barrels forward on violent, pounding chugs and squawking notes without ever stopping for air. The end result is perhaps the most relentless and vicious album the band have yet released.

That’s not to say there’s nothing memorable or noteworthy here. The title track, for example, strikes especially hard by incorporating its addictive, staccato main riff between bouts of sludgy Morbid Angelisms. Likewise, the closing track, “Fell Sorcery,” shows that Gene’s reunion with John Longstreth in Malefic Throne may have caused some Origin influence to bleed over into here, as the song climaxes with an explosive laser beam riff that could have easily been pulled from a tech death album. Through it all, Gene’s raspy vocals sound more biting and scornful than ever, while Ron Parmer proves once again to be the perfect fit for this project. The man wisely refrains from using constant blast beats and instead beats the hell out of his kit in a way that has surprising finesse, matching the momentum and frequently morphing nature of Gene’s riffing. Perhaps this album’s most notable trait, however, is the production, which is more raw than the band’s prior work and recalls the unpolished sound of Behemoth‘s The Apostasy. While this makes the sooty guitars feel a tad subdued, the drums more than make up for this by punching through everything with satisfying clarity.

A lot of bands tire out with age, but Perdition Temple apparently just gets dirtier and more relentless. Malign Apotheosis may not dethrone the band’s first two albums, but it’s a surefire win for fans of the band, and another reminder of how great blackened death metal can be when it’s written by one of the wildest riff-writers in the business.

Rating: 3.5/5.0
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Hells Headbangers Records
Websites: perditiontemple.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/perditiontemple
Releases Worldwide: November 28th, 2025

#2025 #35 #americanMetal #angelcorpse #aresKingdom #behemoth #blackMetal #blasphemicCruelty #brutality #deathMetal #hellsHeadbangersRecords #immolation #maleficThrone #malevolentCreation #malignApotheosis #morbidAngel #nov25 #origin #perditionTemple #review #reviews

Stuck in the Filter: August 2025’s Angry Misses

By Kenstrosity

The heat persists, but now the humidity comes in full force as storm systems wreak havoc upon the coasts. I hide in my cramped closet of an office, lest I be washed out once again by an unsuspecting deluge. However, I still send my minions out into the facility, bound by duty to search for those metallic scraps on which we feast.

Fortuitously, most all of those imps I sent out came back alive, and with wares! BEHOLD!

Kenstrosity’s Galactic Gremlin

Silent Millenia // Celestial Twilight: Beyond the Crimson Veil [August 26th, 2025 – Self-Release]

Have you ever seen such a delightfully cheesy cover? Probably, but it’s been a while for me. I bought Celestial Twilight: Beyond the Crimson Veil, the second raw symphonic black metal opus from Finnish one-man act Silent Millenia, on the strength of the artwork alone. Little did I know that what lay beyond this crimson veil was some of the most fun melodic black metal this side of Moonlight Sorcery. The same low-fi roughness that personifies Old Nick’s work grounds Silent Millenia’s starbound songwriting as it traverses the universe with an energetic punch reminiscent of Emperor or Stormkeep (“Awaken the Celestial Spell,” “Daemonic Mastery”). To help differentiate Silent Millenia’s sound from that of their peers, a gothic atmosphere ensorcells much of this material to great effect, merging eerie Victorian melodies with galactic adventurism in an unlikely pair (“Enthrone the Spectral”). Swirling synths and sparkling twinkles abound as well, creating blissful moments of interest as frosty tremolos and piercing blasts take full advantage of the false sense of security those entrancing clouds of synthetic instrumentation create (“Benighted Path to Darkness Mysterium,” “Reign in Cosmic Majesty”). Simply put, Celestial Twilight is an unexpected gem of a symphonic black metal record, bursting with killer ideas and infinite levels of raw, unabashed fun. You should hear it!

Kronos’ Unexpected Unearthments

Street Sects // Dry Drunk [August 15th, 2025 – Self Release]

Dry Drunk sticks to your inner surfaces, draining down like cigarette tar along paralyzed cilia to pool in your lungs until the cells themselves foment rebellion. Once it’s in you, you feel paranoid, wretched, and alone. So it’s the proper follow-up to Street Sects’ visionary debut, End Position. Like that record, Dry Drunk plumbs the most mundane and unsavory gutters of America for a cast of protagonists that it dwells in or dispatches with a mixture of pity and disgust, with vocalist Leo Ashline narrating their violent crimes and self-hatred in a mixture of croons, shrieks, and snarls that cook the air before the speakers into the scent of booze and rotten teeth. And like that record, Shaun Ringsmuth (Glassing) dresses the sets with a fractal litter of snaps, squeals, crashes, gunshots, and grinding electronics, caked in tar and collapsing just as soon as it is swept into a structure. And like End Position, Dry Drunk is a masterpiece. The impeccable six-song stretch from “Love Makes You Fat” through “Riding the Clock” ties you to the bumper and drags you along some of the duo’s most creative side-roads, through the simmering, straightjacketed sludge of “Baker Act” to the chopped-up, smirking electronica of “Eject Button.” Swerving between addled, unintelligible agony and unforgettable anthems, Dry Drunk, like End Position before it is nothing less than the life of a junkie scraped together, heated on a spoon, and injected into your head. Once you’ve taken a hit, you will never be quite the same.

Thus Spoke’s Frightening Fragments

Defacement // Doomed [August 22nd, 2025 – Self Release]

There’s music for every vibe.1 The one Defacement fits is an exclusively extreme metal flavor of moody that is only appreciable by genre fans, made tangibly more eerie by their persistent idiosyncratic use of dark ambient interludes amidst the viciously distorted blackened death. Audiences—and reviewers—tend to disparage these electronic segments, but I’ve always felt their crackling presence increases the analog horror of it all, and rather than being a breather from the intensity, they prolong the nausea, the sense of emptiness, and the abject fearfulness of head-based trauma. This latter concept grows more metaphorical still on Doomed, where the violence is inside the mind, purpose-erasing, and emotionally-detaching. The ambience might be the most sadly beautiful so far (“Mournful,” and “Clouded” especially), and the transitions into nightmarish heaviness arguably the most fluid. And the metal is undoubtedly the most ambitious, dynamic, and magnificent of Defacement’s career, combining their most gruesome dissonance (“Portrait”) with their most bizarrely exuberant guitar melodies (“Unexplainable,” “Unrecognised”). Solos drip tangibly with (emotional) resonance (“Unexplainable,” “Absent”) and there’s not a breath or a moment of wasted space. Yes, the band’s heavier side can suffer from a nagging sense of homogeneous mass, but it remains transporting. While I can appreciate why others do not appreciate Defacement, this is the first of their outings I can truthfully say mesmerised me on first listen.

ClarkKent’s Heated Hymns

Phantom Fire // Phantom Fire [August 8th, 2025 – Edged Circle Productions]

While I waded through the murky depths of the August promo sump, Steel implored me to take the eponymous third album from Phantom Fire. “The AMG commentariat love blackened heavy metal,” he said. I disregarded his advice at my peril, and while I ended up enjoying what I grabbed, it turns out this would have been solid too. Featuring members from Enslaved, Kraków. Hellbutcher, and Aeternus, Phantom Fire play old school speed metal that harks back to the likes of Motörhead and Iron Maiden’s Killers. Thanks to healthy doses of bass and production values that allow the instruments to shine, each song is infused with energetic grooves. The music sounds fresh, crisp, and clear, from the booming drums to Eld’s “blackened” snarls. Early tracks “Eternal Void” and “All For None” show off the catchy blend of simple guitar riffs and a hoppin’ bass accompanied by energetic kit work. While placing a somewhat lengthy instrumental track in the middle of a record usually slows it down, “Fatal Attraction” turns out to be a highlight. It tells a tragic love story involving a motorcycle with nothing but instruments, an engine revving, and some police sirens. The second half of Phantom Fire gets a bit on the weirder side, turning to some stoner and psychedelia. There’s a push and pull between the stoner and Motörhead speed stuff on songs like “Malphas” and “Submersible Pt. 2,” and this blend actually works pretty well. It turns out that they aren’t phantom after all—these guys are truly fire.

Burning Witches // Inquisition [August 22nd, 2025 – Napalm Records]

With six albums in eight years, Swiss quintet Burning Witches has really been burning rubber. While such prolific output in such a short time frame generally spells trouble, Inquisition is a solid piece of heavy/power metal. Burning Witches dabbles in a mix of speedy power metal and mid-tempo heavy metal, often sounding like ’80s stalwarts Judas Priest and Def Leppard. With Laura Guldemond’s gruff voice, they produce a more weighty, less happy version of power metal than the likes of Fellowship or Frozen Crown. While the songs stick to formulaic structures, tempo shifts from song to song help keep things from growing stale. We see this variety right from the get-go, where “Soul Eater” takes a high-energy approach before moving into the more mellow “Shame.” There’s even a pretty solid ballad, “Release Me,” that grounds the back half of the record. Songs of the sort that Burning Witches write need catchy choruses, and fortunately, they deliver. “High Priestess of the Night” is a particular standout, delivering a knock-out punch in its delivery. It helps that the instrumental parts are well-executed, from crunchy riffs to subdued solos to booming blast beats. Anyone looking for a solid bit of power metal that’s not too heavy on the cheese will find this worth a listen.

Deathhammer // Crimson Dawn [August 29th, 2025 – Hells Headbangers Records]

Celebrating 20 years of blackened speed, Deathhammer drop LP number six with the kind of energy that exhausted parents dread to see in their children at bedtime. This is my first foray with the band, and I am in awe of the relentless level of manic energy they keep throughout Crimson Dawn’s 39 minutes. If science could learn how to harness their energy, we’d have an endless source of renewables. The two-piece out of Norway channels classic Slayer on crack and even has moments reminiscent of Painkiller-era Judas Priest. They play non-stop thrash cranked to 11, with persistent blast beats and some dual guitar parts that leave your head spinning from the rapid-fire directions the riffs fire off in. The heart of the mania is singer Sergeant Salsten. His crazed vocals are amazing—snarling, shouting, and shrieking in a way that took me back to the manic pitch Judge Doom could reach in Who Framed Roger Rabbit? He sings so fast that on the chorus of “Crimson Dawn,” it sounds like he says “Griffindor,” which had me searching confusedly for the Harry Potter tag. This was probably my favorite song, not just because of the Griffindor thing, but because that chorus is so catchy. Either way, it’s tough to pick a standout track because they all grip you by the throat and don’t let go. Crimson Dawn is a ton of fun and a must listen if you like your music fast.

Grin Reaper’s Bountiful Blight

Kallias // Digital Plague [August 14th, 2025 – Self Release]

Machine gun drumming, spacey synths, Morbid Angel-meets-Meshuggah riffing, Turian-esque barking and Voyager-reminiscent vocal melodies…what the fuck is going on here? The only thing more surprising than someone having the moxie to blend all these things together is how well they work in concert. Kallias doesn’t hold back on sophomore album Digital Plague, and the result is a rocket-fueled blast through forty-four minutes of eclectic, addictive prog. The mishmash of styles keeps the album fresh and unpredictable while never dipping its toes in inconsistent waters, and staccato rhythms propel listeners through eight tracks without losing steam. As with any prog metal worth its salt, Kallias brandishes technical prowess, and their cohesion belies the relatively short time they’ve been putting out music.2 The mix is well-suited to spotlight whoever needs it at a given time, whether the bass is purring (“Exogíini Kyriarchía”), the drums are being annihilated (“Pyrrhic Victory”), or a guitar solo nears Pettrucian wankery (“Phenomenal in Theory”). The end result is three-quarters of an hour filled with myriad influences that fuse into a sound all Kallias’s own, and it’s one I’ve returned to several times since discovering (also, credit to MontDoom for his stunning artwork, which helped initially draw my attention). Check it out—you’ll be sick if you avoid this one like the Plague.

Luke’s Kaleidoscopic Kicks

Giant Haze // Cosmic Mother [August 22nd, 2025 – Tonzonen Records]

Whereas many of my colleagues are bracing themselves for cooler conditions and harsh winters to come, in my neck of the woods, things are warming up. While my own wintry August filter proved scarce, there was one particular summery gem to lift moods with burly riffs and fat stoner grooves. Unheralded German act Giant Haze seemingly emerged out of nowhere during a random Bandcamp deep dive. Debut LP Cosmic Mother channels the good old days of ’90s-inspired desert rock, featuring grungy, doomy vibes via a groovy batch of riff-centric, hard-rocking and uplifting jams, evoking the nostalgic spirit of Kyuss, Fu Manchu, Clutch and perhaps even a dash of Danzig. Punching out raucous, groove-soaked hard rockers with skyscraping hooks (“Geographic Gardens Suck,” “King of Tomorrow,” “Panic to Ride”), summery, funk–psych jams (“Sunrise”), and bluesy, punk-infused fireballs (“Crank in Public,” “Shrink Age”) Giant Haze get a lot of things right on this assured debut. The songwriting is deceptively diverse and punchy, bolstered by solid production, tight musicianship, and the swaggering, ever so slightly goofy vocal charms and powerful hooks of frontman Christoph Wollmann. Inevitably, a few rough spots appear, but overall Cosmic Mother showcases oodles of budding potential, an impactful delivery, cheeky sense of humor, and infectious, feel-good songcraft.

Spicie Forrest’s Foraged Fruit

Bask // The Turning [August 22nd, 2025 – Season of Mist]

Last seen in 2019, Bask returns with fourth LP, The Turning, a concept album following The Rider as she and The Traveler traverse the stars. They still peddle the unique blend of stoner rock and Americana Kenstrosity reviewed favorably in 2019, but 2025 sees them looking up for inspiration. The Turning incorporates a distinct cosmic bent (“The Traveler,” “The Turning”) and post-rock structures (“Dig My Heels,” “Unwound”). These augmentations to Bask’s core sound are enhanced by the masterful pedal steel of new official member Jed Willis. Whether floating through the firmament or tilling earthly pastures, Willis creates textures both fresh and intensely nostalgic. The infinite shifting vistas of The Turning’s front half coalesce into singular timeless visions on the back half, supporting its conceptual nature in both content and form. Like a combination of Huntsmen and Somali Yacht Club, Bask weaves riffs and melodies heard across the plains and through the void above with an unguarded authenticity felt in your soul.

Dolphin Whisperer’s Disseminating Discharge

Plasmodulated // An Ocean ov Putrid, Stinky, Vile, Disgusting Hell [August 1st, 2025 – Personal Records]

Stinky, sticky, slimy—all adjectives that define the ideal death metal platter. Myk Colby has been trying to chase this perfect balance in a reverb-wonky package with projects like the d-beaten Hot Graves and extra hazy Wharflurch, but vile death metal balance is hard to achieve. However, An Ocean ov Putrid, Stinky, Vile, Disgusting Hell contains a recklessly pinched Demilichian riffage, classic piercing whammy bombs, and spook-minded synth ambience that places Plasmodulated with an odor more pungent than its peers. With an infected ear that festers equally with doom-loaded, Incantation-indebted drags (“Gelatinous Mutation ov Brewed Origin,” “Trapped in the Plasmovoid”) and Voivod-on-jenkem cutaways to foul-throated extravagence (“The Final Fuckening”). An air of intelligent tempo design keeps An Ocean from never feeling trapped in a maze of its own fumes, with Colby’s lush and bubbling synth design seguing tumbles into hammering deathly tremolo runs (“Such Rapid Sphacelation”) and Celtic Frosted riff tumbles (“Drowning in Sputum”) alike, all before swirling about his own tattered, trailing vocal sputters. Steady but slippery, elegant yet effluvial, An Ocean ov Putrid, Stinky, Vile, Disgusting Hell provides the necessary noxious pressure to corrode death metal-loving denizens into pure gloops of stained-denim pit worship. Delivered as labeled, Plasmodulated earns its hazardous declaration. We here at AMG are not liable for any OSHA violations that occur as a result of Plasmodulated consumption on the job, though.

#2025 #Aeternus #AmericanMetal #Americana #AnOceanOvPutridStinkyVileDisgustingHell #Aug25 #Bask #BlackMetal #BlackenedDeathMetal #BurningWitches #CelestialTwilightBeyondTheCrimsonVeil #CelticFrost #Clutch #CosmicMother #CrimsonDawn #Danzig #DarkAmbient #DeathMetal #Deathhammer #DefLeppard #Defacement #Demilich #DigitalPlague #Doomed #DryDrunk #DutchMetal #EdgedCircleProductions #Emperor #Enslaved #Fellship #FinnishMetal #FrozenCrown #FuManchu #GermanMetal #GiantHaze #Glassing #Hardcore #HeavyMetal #Hellbutcher #HellsHeadbangersRecords #HotGraves #Huntsmen #Incantation #Inquisition #IronMaiden #JudasPriest #Kallias #Kraków #Kyuss #MelodicBlackMetal #Meshuggah #MoonlightSorcery #MorbidAngel #Motörhead #NapalmRecords #NorwegianMetal #OldNick #PersonalRecords #PhantomFire #Plasmodulated #PowerMetal #ProgressiveDeathMetal #RawBlackMetal #Review #Reviews #SelfRelease #SilentMillenia #Slayer #Sludge #SludgeMetal #SomaliYachtClub #SpeedMetal #StonerRock #Stormkeep #StreetSects #StuckInTheFilter #StuckInTheFilter2025 #SwissMetal #SymphonicBlackMetal #TechnicalDeathMetal #TheTurning #TonzonenRecords #Turian #Voivod #Voyager #Wharflurch

DECEASED – Children Of The Morgue
https://eternal-terror.com/?p=72095

RELEASE YEAR: 2024BAND URL: https://the-true-deceased.bandcamp.com/

Let me paint you a picture of a bright unscathed new world where mankind would live in joyous peace and cherish his life on Earth, our children would play in safety and real love would own our hearts, true sincerity lives away from greed…Now let me paint you reality’s picture, it’s a dark unbending world where this […]

#CHILDRENOFTHEMORGUE #deathMetal #DEATHNROLL #DECEASED #heavyMetal #HELLSHEADBANGERSRECORDS #TheUnitedStates #thrashMetal #Virginia

Deceased – Children of the Morgue Review

By Steel Druhm

Virginia’s Deceased are about as cult as a metal band gets and over their 37 year career of evil they’ve harvested the best bits of traditional, thrash and death metal and stitched them together into shambling monstrosities. Evolving from death into grind and then death-thrash with ever-increasing melodic sensibilities, Deceased have always been a feral, shaggy beast unfit for polite company. Albums like Fearless Undead Machines and Surreal Overdose are stone-cold classics overlooked by far too many, and any Deceased album is guaranteed to be a mangy ball of undisciplined hyperactivity thanks to founder and brain trust King Fowley. This man lives, breathes and bleeds metal and he’s the reason Deceased are such an enduring and charming freakshow. With no new material since 2018s Ghostly White, King made fans wait patiently for new product, and 2024 finally sees eighth album Children of the Mogue splattered on the wall like a shit-guts souffle. Are you ready to savor the flavor?

I’m happy to report that the unhinged, foaming-at-the-mouth sound of classic Deceased is still present. The title track proves it as their classic blend of OSDM, thrash and classic metal runs apeshit amok over your face and chesticles before leaving you in a greasy dumpster behind an organ donation clinic. It’s exactly what you want from Deceased with King Fowley’s over-the-top death roars as good as ever, accented by riffs that leap from 80s thrash, to 90s caveman death and NWoBHM without warning. At various points you’ll hear bits of Slayer, Rigor Mortis, Autopsy and even Voivod, and with nearly 8 minutes to work with, the band has plenty of time to saw your ears off. Is it massively bloated? Fuck yes it is, but it’s a wild ride full of hobo wine and lead pipe beatings and it’s crazy entertaining. After a short doomy interlude, the band jumps over to an upbeat, punky style not far from Unto Others (Untoothers) on “Terronaut,” but this quickly gives way to spoken word terror tales and death-thrash hooliganism with catchy guitar bits. The 8-plus minutes of “The Gravedigger” are a bloody sled ride through an active abattoir and you’ll get kill-bolted in the cranium multiple times along the way as the band chugs, grooves, dooms, and deaths every which way they can. It’s a big ole can of corpse paste and alley cat piss, but you get accustomed to the lumpy consistency.

The urge to cram more and MOAR into nearly every track has long been a Deceased handicap and it is here too. “The Gravedigger” is way long, as is “Fed to Mother Earth,” and restraint goes right out the fucking window on 8-plus minute closer “Farewell (Taken to Forever)”. But where Metallica bugs the shit out of me when they elongate songs 3-5 minutes past the logical stopping point, it’s way more tolerable when these guys do it because they stuff so much berserk filling in the coffin crust. The madcap commitment to excess is endearing, but the album plays out like a hot oil wrestling match against a bunch of zaftig competitors — it’s slippery fun but they wear you down before the end. That said, cuts like “Eerie Wavelengths” and “Brooding Lament” hit hard because they’re shorter and laser-focused on curb-stomping your poser ass. At 55 minutes, Children of the Morgue requires effort to absorb in one sitting, and slicing off the FOUR interludes might have helped lessen the cadaver load. Still, there’s a cosmic ass-ton of fun to be had along the way.

King Fowley is a metal legend and should be given a lifetime achievement award. He handles drums, bass and vocals here and though he’s a multi-talented chap, it’s his insane blathering that keeps the lights on at Deceased Manor. He’s one of the most over-the-top frontmen in metal, genuinely going all in all the time with shouts, death roars, blackened cackles and everything else he can think of. He’s a big reason the band’s chaos soup style works and he’s nothing if not charismatic. Guitarist Mike Smith has been integral to their sound since 1995, throwing off vibrant trad, thrash, and death riffs in rapid succession while also venturing into Goth rock and punk. With long-time murder accomplice Shane Fuegal along for the ride, the guitar work is deranged, unpredictable and spicy, borrowing from everyone from Iron Maiden to Autopsy to Tribulation.

As with nearly every Deceased album, there are hits and some lesser moments, but nothing here is bad. The bloat is the main obstacle, but even on the longest cuts, the band delivers so much belligerent energy, that you may not care about the added baggage. Children of the Morgue is a fun, frantic outing with the classic Deceased sound and that’s all that matters. Pad the walls and strap yourself in, because this shit has big nuts in it.

Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 8 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Hells Headbangers
Websites: facebook.com/deceasedofficial | instagram.com/deceasedupthetombstones
Releases Worldwide: August 30th, 2024

#2024 #30 #AmericanMetal #Aug24 #ChildrenOfTheMorgue #DeathMetal #Deceased #FearlessUndeadMachines #GhostlyWhite #HeavyMetal #HellsHeadbangersRecords #Review #Reviews #ThrashMetal

Skelethal – Within Corrosive Continuums Review

By Mark Z.

Smelly cheese, extreme horror films, and Skelethal. All things France has given us, two of which I actually care about. Today’s topic is the last of those three. Formed in 2012, this group play a belligerent and unpolished form of Swedish-style death metal, complete with a musty vibe that seems to always come along with being signed to Hells Headbangers Records. One of their early EPs impressed former staffer Al Kikuras; their 2017 debut did not. However, with 2020’s Unveiling the Threshold, vocalist and guitarist Gui Haunting returned with a revamped lineup, an improved production job, and better songs. The result was a wholly enjoyable record that earned a positive endorsement from the almighty Kronos. Now joined by session drummer Ilmar Marti Uibo (ex-Necrowretch), the band are back from the depths with their third album, Within Corrosive Continuums.

Though it’s been four years since their last record, the core of Skelethal’s sound hasn’t changed. Expect drums that almost constantly barrel forward, ragged chords that shuffle around the fretboard, and slobbering growls that spew forth lyrics about some sort of unearthly torment. As before, the most obvious influence is Swedish death metal, though the band’s preference for stomping grooves over melodic riffs makes them sound more like Carnage than Dismember. While the approach is nothing groundbreaking, I do enjoy the earnest execution. First proper track “Spectrum of Morbidity,” for instance, careens forward like a locomotive on fire before hitting the listener with some jabbing notes, while “Mesmerizing Flies at the Doors of Death” rides a quick squirming riff that sounds like a reinvention of the main guitar line from Carnage’s “Torn Apart.”

The biggest difference between this and Skelethal’s past work is what could loosely be called a “progressive death metal” influence. “Spectrum of Morbidity” displays this when a strange riff appears midway through, but the true showcase of this new sound comes with the mammoth title track that closes the album. Clocking in at just under thirteen minutes, this entirely instrumental song employs all sorts of warped riffing and cosmic solos, making it sound like the band were trying to write their own version of the closing track from the last Blood Incantation record. Furthering that comparison, the song even features an extended ambient interlude, presumably intended to give the listener one last chance to take a massive bong rip before some heavy and reverberating chords bring the album to a close.

The progressive influence is a cool new touch, but it doesn’t always work. Take the strange and somber interlude that crops up in “Upon the Immemorial Ziggurat.” While I like this segment, it doesn’t feel neatly integrated into the song. Yet the biggest issue with this record is the same one that, in varying degrees, has always plagued Skelethal. While the band’s scrappy delivery and whiff of Lovecraftian weirdness is endearing, the group simply lack the notable hooks and memorable riffs that would put them higher on the modern death metal pecking order. Simply put, this is a band that’s easy to like but hard to love.

Fortunately, the production works well, with a raw and unkempt sound that presents everything clearly enough without harming the otherworldly atmosphere. The guitars are powerful and dirty, keeping the riffing grounded while giving everything a sense of unrestrained drive. The leads, on the other hand, wail and squeal with a soaring tone that calls to mind later Death albums. I’d also be remiss not to mention how bold the band were in constructing this album. Along with the title track, the opening song “Creation” also has no vocals. This means that two of these seven tracks, that together comprise over a third of the album’s forty-minute runtime are entirely instrumental. It ultimately makes for a record that’s easy to escape into and leave your shitty life behind. Do I see myself adding this to my year-end list? Probably not. Do I see myself listening to this in my basement at 11 p.m. on a Saturday, three beers deep and naked below the waist, with the tip of my weiner peeking out from below my oversized T-shirt? Fuck yes. Take that for what it’s worth, I guess.

Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Hells Headbangers Records
Websites: skelethal.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/skelethal
Releases Worldwide: July 12th, 2024

#2024 #30 #BloodIncantation #Carnage #Death #DeathMetal #Dismember #FrenchMetal #HellsHeadbangersRecords #Jul24 #Necrowretch #Review #Reviews #Skelethal #WithinCorrosiveContinuums

Cardiac Arrest – The Stench of Eternity Review

By Steel Druhm

You can’t listen to everything out there and we all have gaps in our metal detection system through which plenty of quality product sluices out. Still, I’m left wondering why I never spent time with Chicago’s death metal maniacs Cardiac Arrest until last week. Active since 2004 and with 7 full-lengths under their belt, this is a Windy City death institution that I completely slept on despite AMG having reviewed their 2018 opus A Parallel Dimension of Despair. On eighth album The Stench of Eternity, these scuzzmongers deliver a nasty sound mixing classic Floridian death with the uglier side of grind and crust and occasional flirtations with meatheaded slam. This brutal brew means you’ll be in for one helluva sick beatdown. That’s a good thing, and maybe a very good thing depending on your bodily durability and appetite for ear destruction. You may want to hold onto something sturdy for emotional support, like a bunker-buster bomb.

After a dramatic intro soundbite about maggots, “Maggot This One” removes your face using rudimentary caveman tools that sound like a hellish blend of Impetigo and early Carcass. Before you can get yourself re-faced, “Victims of the Blasphemy” brings the OSDM cudgel down and mercilessly hammers you with something like Deicide meets Jungle Rot meets Malevolent Creation. You don’t know it yet, but you need this filth pumping through your soon-to-be hardened arteries. The unintentional or suspiciously intentional nod to Slayer’s “Hell Awaits“ at the midpoint is satisfying and gives you a chance to regain some bodily fluids (milk would be a bad choice). This tune is exactly what Steel wants from his OSDM and the ass whippings are just getting started.

There’s a 5-song run here composed of the best death metal I’ve heard this year. Starting with “Bullets are the Only Cure,” Cardiac Arrest brings out the street cleaners with brushes set to “Scrub-a-Dub-Stumprub.” The mid-paced d-beaty chugs are heavy, thick, and as inevitable as Thanos and his fun mitten. Once you’re properly tenderized, the absolute brain fuck of “In the Name of Suffering” rolls over you like an 80-ton Zamboni. With massive chugs and grooves blasting lustily, there’s zero respite from this spectacular piece of leg-day-appropriate abuse. “Born to Be Buried” is like Cannibal Corpse if their collective IQ was reduced to 100, and the shambling death gallop descends into crushing chuggery and insane garbage disposal piggy noises that the whole family can enjoy. And wait til you hear the sick slow-motion mega-chugs that show up midway through “This is How You Die” to mulch your duodenum. With so much winning, how could Cardiac Arrest be stopped? Well, the answer is an on-and-off struggle with bloat. “Means to an End” is a rock-solid song that takes the best ingredients from Autopsy’s puke pâté and shoves them down your throat, but at 6-plus minutes it goes a bit too long. Worse is 11-plus minute closer “From Civilized to Sadistic.” It’s a dandy of a deather with tons of gripping moments, but by the 7-minute mark the bases are well covered and it just hangs around for another 4 minutes eating your lunch meat and rifling through your mail. Shorten these cuts and this clicks up to a GREAT death metal platter immediately. Despite the occasional bloatery, the 48-minute runtime doesn’t feel excessive as most cuts are nasty, brutish, and short. Also, kudos to the production which grants a gnarly tone to the guitars and a huge punch to the drums.

The riffs make the death metal, and Adam Scott and Tom Knizner bring the cargo bepantsed goods in large volumes. Whether they’re going for the throat with d-beaty thrash or pounding you into the Earth’s core with massive grooves, they know how to inflict caveman culture on the sophisticated. The 10-ton chugs that populate most songs feel as essential as oxygen and never get boring. These hellcats are masters at timing too, knowing exactly when to shift gears to keep things fresh and forward-moving. Three band members are credited with vocals and I have no clue who does what, but the combination of harsh styles reminds me of the Symphony of Sickness era of Carcass and everything sounds wonderfully diseased and incurable. The whole package is tight and the crew checks all the boxes while keeping a size 13 boot up your ass. That’s talent, folks.

The sheer intensity of the shellacking I received from this odious hunk of offal brings me back to wondering how I missed the Cardiac Arrest boat as long as I have. I feel great shame about it and I’m now digging through their back catalog with fiendish fervor. If you want a cracked brain and a bruised gallbladder, put your ears on The Stench of Eternity and turn it WAY UP. This is a special kind of ugly… like your Mom! Gottem.

Rating: 3.5/5.0
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Hells Headbangers
Websites: cardiacarrestdeathmetal.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/cardiacarrestdeathmetal
Releases Worldwide: May 17th, 2024

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