Detherous is quickly becoming a band to pay attention to. Their 2019 debut, Hacked to Death was a balls-to-the-wall thrasher with a killer Kreator-meets-Death sound that easily put the band on many playlists. The Canadian band’s follow-up solidifies the group’s thrash meets death metal style with more unrelenting riffs, bombastic drums, and savage vocals that invoke the great Chuck Schuldiner.

Unrelenting Malevolence (Redefining Darkness) plays like the missing album between Death’s Leprosy and Spiritual Healing. The riffs hit at a bombastic pace straddling the line between pure eighties thrash and early nineties death metal. In other words, it’s a headbanger’s paradise. ‘Interminable Mutilation’ starts the album with a literal bang as Detherous wastes no time at all by blasting speed and power into your eardrums, and the four-piece keeps this frenzied momentum going throughout most of the album, delivering plenty of chaos and with some killer production that keeps some of the madness in check.

The first single, ‘Reek of the Decayed’ stinks of old school gore metal with its over the top brutal lyrics that are overly gruesome and laced with plenty of wickedly dark humor. It happens to be one of Detherous’s longer tracks and showcases the band’s ability to put together a well-structured death metal song that delivers.

The nostalgia factor is a key element that Unrelenting Malevolence has going for it. This album immediately took me back to the early 1990s when I was just discovering extreme music. It’s easily accessible for those who are just getting into more extreme music but it is still satisfying enough for the most jaded death metal head. This is one of those perfect example albums to share with someone who wants to test the waters of extreme metal before diving into the deep end.

Buy the album here: https://detherous-ca.bandcamp.com/album/unrelenting-malevolence

7 / 10

ANDREW RISCH