Deathcult - Beasts of Faith CD / LP.
Review by Trevor Proctor.
From Zurich, Switzerland, Deathcult formed in 2010 but it would be 2012 before they released their debut recording, ‘Demo ’12, which was released by Invictus Productions as a limited edition cassette of which only 100 were ever made available. However, the standard of Death Metal featured on the demo prompted no less than three re-releases – Invictus Productions reissued the cassette in June 2014, followed by a CD edition in March 2016 which in turn was followed by a vinyl edition from Iron Bonehead Productions in May 2016.
The original line-up of Deathcult featured a number of experienced and very talented musicians – M Goathammer (drums) who’s also a member of Blakk Old Blood, P Nekros (guitar) who also plays for Asag, D. Virgin Killer previously played for a number of bands including Black Sputum and Parazide and O Ketzer previously played for Witchrist and currently plays for Bölzer. With a line-up like that it’s no surprise how good their music is and from demo to full length Deathcult hasn’t failed to deliver anything apart from first class Death Metal.
Deathcult followed their debut Demo with the ‘Pleading for Death...Choking on Life' EP which was released via Me Saco un Ojo Records on 12” vinyl in February 2014, featuring the same musicians as their debut but since then O Ketzer has left Deathcult to concentrate on Bölzer. Also, tragedy struck the band prior to the EP’s 2014 release when in July 2013 bassist and founding member D. Virgin Killer unfortunately passed away due to cancer. (RIP)
Invictus Productions and Iron Bonehead Productions are once again set to bring us music from Deathcult in the form of their highly anticipated debut full length, ‘Beasts of Faith,’ which is due for CD release via Invictus Productions at the end of September with a vinyl edition to follow from Iron Bonehead Productions. O Ketzer returned to play bass on this album and also wrote the lyrics to ‘Beasts of Faith’ and ‘Death in July’ which the band has fittingly dedicated to D. Virgin Killer. The album was mastered by Olof Wisktrand who has extensive experience both as musician and producer, including production for Tribulation’s debut album ‘The Horror,’Olof also contributed the second solo on closing track ‘An Accurst Procession.’ The coloration and layout for the album were designed by Anti Graphic and the cover is the design of Seventh Bell Artwork who also designed the artwork for the Iron Bonehead Productions vinyl version of Deathcult’s demo.
‘Beasts of Faith’ features nine tracks across fifty minutes with the penultimate track being a cover of Death’s ‘Evil Dead.’ The album starts very strongly with ‘Barren Land’ which is quite a high tempo track and perfect opener. The production levels on the demo were exceptional but instantly you can notice slightly sharper production which lends itself well to Deathcult’s sound. The two guitarists are suited to each other very well and you’d think they’d been playing together for years - as one holds the pace with some exceptional riffs the other lets rip with some seriously good solos. This is the case both on this track and also for the album as a whole as we’re hit with riff after riff and solo after solo, and not one dodgy note to be heard. Deathcult tend to keep the tempo fairly upbeat with some thrashy, high tempo tracks such as ‘Beasts of Faith’ or ‘Hammer of Golgotha’ but aren’t afraid to mix things up a little with occasional slower sections such as those to be heard during ‘The Sick Within.’ Deathcult close the album with a second instrumental ‘An Accurst Procession’ which is close to nine minutes long and further showcases Deathcult’s talent – it’s tricky enough to hold the attention with an instrumental this long but they easily do so and once again there’s a few lethal solos to be heard further into the track. Whilst the reissue of their demo brought Deathcult to people’s attention and showed huge potential ‘Beasts of Faith’ both proves and solidifies that potential and illustrates their impressive musicianship by bringing us an album’s worth of first class Death Metal. The excellent track ‘Death in July’ is available to stream below and fully proves the standard of music to be heard throughout ‘Beasts of Faith.’
Deathcult once again has a solidified and extremely talented line up in the form of P Nekros and O Diabolous on guitar, M Goathammer on drums and S Phoberos performing bass and vocals and I wish them nothing but the very best with both this and future releases and live dates.
A very solid Death Metal album from Deathcult that’s well and truly up to the high standard of release we’ve come to expect from Invictus Productions and Iron Bonehead Productions. 8.5/10.
Tracklist:
01 – Barren Land
02 – Beasts of Faith
03 – Hammer of Golgotha
04 – Death in July
05 – A Foul Glint
06 - Discreate Homunkulus
07 – The Sick Within
08 – Evil Dead (Death cover)
09 – An Accurst Procession.
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