Tampa

Perdition Temple returns with their fierce fourth album, Merciless Upheaval.

Tampa’s Perdition Temple came together in 2009 with a musical mission first articulated on Edict of the Antichrist Elect (2010). An EP followed, then in 2015, The Tempter’s Victorious. Each new release was a step forward in the band’s formidable history. Rough seas ensued for a couple of years, followed by a renewed, solidified front on 2020’s Sacraments of Descension. The band is Gene Palubicki (vocals, guitar), Alex Blume (bass), and Ron Parmer (drums).

The new album has four original songs and four covers. New songs first. The title track breaks the ice, and my first thought is that the title is perfect. It is like a soundtrack to chaos with percussive savagery, willfully violent guitars, and Palubicki’s coarse and commanding vocals. “Execution Swarm” continues the death metal attack. The short lead guitar segments are like dive bombers aimed at your brain.

“Redemption Abattoir” might be my favorite track because of the turns it takes throughout. Every corner it explores fills in the picture a little bit more. “In Thrall of Malevolence” is clandestine in the way it circles around you, ultimately coming at you from every direction.

The covers are fascinating choices including classic bands all fans will know together with names that are less recognizable to some: Infernal Majesty, Pestilence, Shub Niggurath, and Morbid Angel. “Skeletons In The Closet” and “Blood On My Hands” are fantastic and especially wonderful to hear in these new renditions. I am delighted to see Perdition Temple offering respect to these storied bands with such reminiscences. The structure of the album is a winner, with half original tracks and half covers, the band has hit on a memorable combination. Recommended.

Merciless Upheaval is out through Hells Headbangers on Friday, June 24^th. Have a look at the label’s shop and the band’s links.

Photos by Wayne Edwards, Higher Ground, Burlington, Vermont, 2019.

Links.

Bandcamp, https://perditiontemple.bandcamp.com/

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/perditiontemple

Perdition Temple website, http://perditiontemple.com/

Hells Headbangers Records, https://shop-hellsheadbangers.com/

The fifth album from Tampa, Florida metalists The Absence is a tour of dark imaginings.

Melodic Death Metal is a popular lane for heavy music these days, and one of the premiere bands creating it is The Absence. For nearly twenty years and through four previous albums, The Absence has charted its way through the mire of possibilities by producing music exactly the way they wanted to, and fans have responded. Now comes Coffinized, another chapter in the band’s growing legacy.

The album opens with the title track, and it is a dismal wind blowing arctic devastation that at first seems like a dirge but soon enough starts swinging a metal hammer. The compositional approach is compartmentalized ideas stitched seamlessly together that will turn you this way and that until the disequilibrium makes you see the truth in the void.

“Future Terminal” has a clever and catchy vocal/guitar duet in a the chorus that stays with you after the close, as does the explanatory lead break near the middle. The songs are heavy and driving, fast and churning. “Choirs of Sickness” is incredible in the way it establishes drama, while a song like “Black Providence” is much more eerie and sinister in its approach. “Discordia” screeches and “Faith In Uncreation” delivers speed and depth (and has a truly bizarre ending after a few moments of silence – it is better if you just hear it without me describing it in advance).

Every song is its own microcosm while being undeniably a part of the greater whole. I have listened to The Absence consistently through the years and always liked their music. This new album reinvigorates my interest and takes it to a new level. Recommended.

Coffinized comes out tomorrow, Friday, June 25^th from M-Theory Audio.

Links.

Bandcamp, https://theabsenceofficial.bandcamp.com/

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/theabsenceofficial/

M-Theory Audio, https://www.m-theoryaudio.com/

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Perdition Temple, Merciless Upheaval (Hells Headbangers 2022)

The Absence, Coffinized (M-Theory Audio 2021)