Formed last year, Malefic Throne finds Morbid Angel frontman Steve Tucker joining forces with former Angelcorpse guitarist Gene Palubicki and drummer John Longstreth (also of Origin and Hate Eternal), the trio producing an eponymously titled four track EP (released via Hells Headbangers) of finest quality death metal.
Wasting no time on quiet instrumental introductions to lull you into a pointless false sense of security, the band get down to business right from the off. With a blistering double kick drum attack and slashing guitars, ‘Deciding The Hierarchy’ hacks into your skull like a rusty blade amid a snarling whirlwind of guttural roars and doesn’t stop until your exposed brain has been removed at the spinal column and held aloft in bloody victory.
‘The Dawn of the Truth’ opens with a brief drum intro before launching into an assault of precise militaristic fury, Tucker acting as a barbed wire throated drill instructor intent on getting his point across as ferociously as possible. Fancy a breather? No chance. ‘A New Hand Upon the Blade’ pulverises what’s left of your shattered eardrums for the next four and a half minutes, an exhausting assault of brutal death metal that simply does not give a fuck about subtlety or nuance.
Closing with a faithful and suitably vicious cover of ‘Nuclear Winter’ by German thrashers Sodom, Malefic Throne is as ruthless a debut as you could possibly ask for. Punishing speed one moment, sinister, atmospheric grind the next, spidery riffs descend and uncoil at will and frantic guitar solos stab wildly with frenzied and inhuman savagery. Modern old school death metal at its finest.
Buy the EP here: https://maleficthrone.bandcamp.com/album/malefic-throne
8 / 10
GARY ALCOCK