#angelcorpse — Public Fediverse posts

Florida: birthplace of the first personal computer, endless just-barely-believable news stories, the modern sports drink, and death metal. Since the birth of Florida’s death metal scene in the late 80s and early 90s, the state has produced countless acts of varying quality and recognition. Among them is Hexorcist, forged in Miami’s oppressive heat in 2019. The four-piece released a demo in 2020, followed by debut LP Evil Reaping Death in 2021. Hexorcist subsequently journeyed to the land of splits for a few years, but they’ve returned with their sophomore effort, Crucificial Imprecations. Born in the land of musical giants, can Hexorcist even cast a shadow?

Crucificial Imprecations hails from a time when death and thrash were still separating themselves. After a symphonic opening reminiscent of old horror films, Hexorcist nails the gas pedal to the floor. “Crucifical Imprecations” burns and grinds the asphalt as it takes off on the highway to Hell. Like a demon, Mors Ululatus barks and growls his way through track after track of pure, unadulterated hatred for Jesus. In fact, from album art to instrumentals to lyrics, Crucificial Imprecations seems intent on reviving the glorious era of Satanic Panic. If the slimy wet bass that opens “Emissary of Evil” doesn’t send churchgoing mothers clutching for pearls, the hammering snares—driving anxiety up by the 8th note—will. Samples from 1968 cult classic The Devil Rides Out grace the final two tracks (“Unconsecrated Offerings,” “Exordium of Profanation”), and Mors Ululatus finds prime moments to scream in terror like he’s falling into the Lake of Fire itself (“Defacing Deities,” “Emissary of Evil,” “Exordium of Profanation”).

It shouldn’t be a surprise given their stomping grounds, but Hexorcist walks closely in the footsteps of Angelcorpse or Monstrosity and anchors themselves firmly in the Florida death metal sound. Riffs are plentiful, as guitarist Maleferious releases one after another, stuffing each song with several worth getting stuck in your craw. His riffs are technical and acrobatic, and his psychotic solo work frequently suffers Deathly convulsions. Bassist Lvctvs sounds thick enough to suffocate even the holiest among us in demonic ichor. When they work in tandem, matching note for note, they create singularly evil and terrifying passages (“Hexorcist”). This is only amplified by Pest’s violent and relentless kit work (“Emissary of Evil, Adverse Sacraments”). Together,1 Hexorcist ensures there’s no hope for escape from this satanic, Floridian joy ride.

Hexorcist maintains laser focus from start to finish on their sophomore release, but it’s not always to their benefit. Early in my time with Crucificial Imprecations, I thought the back half sagged, but that’s not exactly true. I realized that Hexorcist’s intensity and consistency, in a critical setting, ends up fairly monotonous. The problem here is that, regardless of how the tracks are ordered, Crucifical Imprecations starts to become a slog after any four of its eight tracks. Don’t misunderstand—this is some killer death/thrash, but across eight tracks of similar pacing, similar drumlines, similar basslines, similar solo structures, similar vocal delivery, it all blends together. Even though Crucificial Imprecations clocks in at a very short 30 minutes, the lack of identity from track to track makes it a much tougher listen than that length would suggest.

Hexorcist doesn’t exactly break any new ground here, but they do get my blood pumping pretty well. They were a no-brainer to throw on while working or driving or running errands. It wasn’t until I sat down to take some notes that I struggled with Crucificial Imprecations. Each track on Crucifical Imprecations is pretty tasty on its own, but the album is a bit of a one-trick pony. Where the forebears of the style experimented with mid-paced tracks and even slowed things down to a doomy crawl, Hexorcist lets off the gas exactly never, and there’s precious little variety to keep me engaged from start to finish. My playlists will benefit greatly from Crucificial Imprecations’ choice cuts, but I don’t see myself returning to the album as a whole.

Rating: 2.5/5.0
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Invictus Productions
Websites: Album Bandcamp | Facebook
Releases Worldwide: July 31st, 2026

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

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Beheaded – Għadam Review

By Dear Hollow

I’m not sure which is worse: to release terrible or forgettable albums. Unfortunately for Maltese death metal outfit Beheaded, it has been the latter for the vast majority of their career. Always releasing competent material but nothing that sticks, their tenure within these hallowed halls has been rife with mediocrity, both 2017’s Beast Incarnate and 2019’s Only Death Can Save You lauded acknowledged for sounding like brutal death metal by the inimitable Kronos – the definition of “mixed” territory. Even 1998 highlight Perpetual Mockery has been covered up by the sands of time. This is precisely why Għadam is such a monumental release for this death metal stalwarts.

For Għadam, Beheaded becomes “il-kittieb” of their own horror – both lyrically and musically. Nearly forsaking all brutal tendencies without sacrificing its bite, the quintet focuses instead on channeling its heritage. The songs are entirely in Maltese, each track named after and capturing the storytelling of local horror writer Anton Grasso:1 the songs grapple with folk horror, local struggles, and the supernatural, and reflect the nation’s troubled history with religion and Christianity. For the first time in Beheaded’s history, it feels as though the band is writing their own music rather than regurgitating what brutal death ought to sound like. While the album is imperfect, Għadam is a motion from a band previously stuck in the muck of their own habits to rise from the dead and make the future bright again.

While elements of Beheaded’s brutal death peak through periodically, Għadam is remarkably atmospheric and dread-inducing. Drawing from Maltese folk music, the melodies here give an otherworldly flare, conjuring horrors both tangible and surreal. While the opening title track and the concluding instrumental “Irmied” feature harp guitar that sets the tone for a more focused and streamlined affair, the meat of Għadam is ominous, dense, and foreboding. From dirging riffs layered with doomed menace and vicious vocals (title track, “Iħirsa”), the kickass guitar work amplified by wild solos (“Iljieli bla qamar,” “Jidħaq il-lejl”), or the blackened tremolo and subtle synths that add a whole new dimension of intensity (“B’niket inħabbru l-mewt,” “Ix-xjaten ta’ moħħi”), riffy motifs and haunted leads are streamlined and consistent across the board. Cleans are used sparingly, but utilize a mournful mumble that adds to the desolation of the atmosphere. Ultimately, Beheaded feels reborn into a sound that feels very much theirs, despite newfound comparisons to God Dethroned, Belphegor, and Angelcorpse.

Given highlights and individual song identity, the structure of Għadam feels more intentional than Beheaded has offered before. Most notably, the track “Il-kittieb” serves as a centerpiece not only for being the fifth track in the nine-track album, but as a sonic eye of the storm; while it utilizes the same tricks as its surrounding tracks, they are weaponized in a slow-building crescendo whose climax serves as the most satisfying moment of the album. Intertwined dissonant leads and ethereal solos collide in a 6/8 timing that feels like a waltz through hell. Even last full song “Jidħaq il-lejl” feels like a culmination of the two tracks preceding it, a riffy and ominous trek through dark territory. This structure makes it easy to forget the weak links, such as the frenetic and anchorless (“Xtrajt l-infern”) or the forgettable (“B’niket inħabbru l-mewt,” “Iħirsa”). The spoken word passages scattered throughout are also hit or miss.

Beheaded has forsaken their long-time forgettable signature in favor of something that ironically suits them better. Għadam is imperfect in its experimentation, but is surprisingly realized regardless, a consistent thread of viciousness and menace woven into all its movements gives exposure to its homeland, a culture tragically neglected in the annals of history. While “Maltese death metal” would have traditionally conjured images of brutal death’s relentless pummeling in Beheaded or Abysmal Torment, Għadam’s sinister and atmospheric approach to blackened death metal tinged with local dark lore and haunting melodics, even if imperfect, sets Beheaded out onto a new and unforgettable path.

Rating: 3.5/5.0
DR: 5 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3
Label: Agonia Records
Website: facebook.com/BeheadedMT
Releases Worldwide: July 25th, 2025

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