Despite being somewhat outflanked in recent years by the operatic bombast of fellow countrymen Fleshgod Apocalypse, who they have previously shared members with, Italian quartet Hour of Penance obviously have no intention of being left behind in the race for the throne of Italian Death Metal as new album Regicide (Prosthetic) emphatically demonstrates, for it is one of the most brutal and vicious releases you are likely to hear all year.

Still mightily pissed off with the Catholic Church, which again provides most of the fuel for the hatred captured on these eleven tracks, Hour of Penance go for the throat from the off with the savage double-whammy of ‘Reforging the Crowns’ and ‘Desecrated Souls’ which fly by in a barrage of blastbeats, gargantuan Hate Eternal –influenced riffs and throaty bellows courtesy of the utterly furious sounding Paolo Pieri. There’s not much in the way of subtlety and you wonder briefly if the intensity will be sustained throughout. But these worries are soon assuaged by the quality of the songwriting that begin to shine through like light through a stain glass window as in the venomous chugging of ‘Spears of Sacred Dogma’ and the more nuanced menace of ‘Sealed Into Ecstasy.’

Although this is a strictly route-one death metal album, Hour of Penance are a well-oiled machine that despite having no original members remaining, have honed their craft to near perfection in recent years. Despite being unlikely to ever headline festival stages they just won’t stop delivering when it comes to gut-wrenchingly heavy and furious sounding compositions that are akin to being throttled by a possessed priest in the midst of a swarm of apocalyptic ruination. Regicide continues that trend and offers no hope of salvation.

7.5/10

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JAMES CONWAY