Church of Disgust - Weakest is the Flesh

http://www.secret-face.com/

#FOR FANS OF: Death Old School

Best way to describe this release is that it's HEAVY and BRUTAL death metal. The first hearing this album and I was impressed. However, I wasn't immediately on the assumption that this deserved an "75" rating. But upon repeated listens to, the more I thought higher and higher of. These guys aren't entirely new to the scene, they have some full length LP's. Based in Texas and on Hell's Headbangers Records they've really stepped up a performance. The guitars and vocals seemed to grow on me. They just downright heavy. It's kind of like Shed The Skin's latest 'Thaumogensis' which is another band on Hell's Headbangers. That label attracts some brutal stuff, but good!

The guitars are noteworthy and catchy. Alongside the vocals, they're really equipped to accompany the music. There was small bits of keyboards too, but not while the guitars were playing. Something unique to have on a death metal record. Reminds me of the second Malevolent Creation release 'Retribution'. The vocals are just chunks of slab hoarse as all hell.

The sound quality was good, there were no instruments drowned out by anything. Really well produced. My favorite parts are the chunky guitars mixed with the voice. Overall, a great effort. I'm not too interested in their older work, I just hope that they'll continue to progress musically. With this gem being as it is, I'm hopeful they'll keep up with momentum. The songs are really fast they're moderate to slow tempos and the lead portions (guitar) are pretty technical. There aren't a heck of a lot of leads, they just are featured on a few songs. Their musical maturity is way there and they show that they're definitely a solid band.

This clocks in about 40 minutes which I wish would've been longer but they made their mark in death metal history with this monument. There's nothing else that I would change about this except the duration. However, I feel that they made their contribution to the extreme metal community. And that they have! Don't wait any longer, this is where it's at in a landmark release on this label. Do what you can to find more out about it! (Death8699)

(Hells Headbangers Records - 2022)
Score: 75

https://church-of-disgust.bandcamp.com/album/weakest-is-the-flesh

Church of Disgust - Unworldly Summoning

#FOR FANS OF: Primitive Death Metal, Incantation, Ignivomous, Hooded Menace

A two-man retro death metal act from Texas, Church of Disgust seem to follow the Incantation act of deathly worship that tends to make the band feel like they’re flat-out copying the band. Stripping down the style even more than McEntee and company do, this is cavernous, Lovecraft-inspired Death Metal that tends to rattle along with some noteworthy Doom-inspired riff-work and accompanying tempos along the way to go along with the darker, more ominous styles throughout the rest of the album. This is an incredibly straight-forward effort that really doesn’t offer up many surprises throughout either, tending to focus on such matters throughout the running time so this one tends to resemble primitive-sound Death Metal obsessed with the supernatural and otherworldly horrors in a barbaric cacophony of low-fi guitars, rattling drumming and deep, deep growls that are all straight from the Incantation playbook just without the originality, spirit or ability to gauge the listener the way that band goes about this bestial style of sonic death. Frankly, the band tends to thrash away in a simplistic vibe for a while filling the space with blistering drumming and unrelentingly intense vocals before slowing things down into a slower crawl with sprawling, doom-influenced patterns and chords only to repeat this throughout the song as a whole before returning to matters again on the next track where it repeats the process so it really just depends on the intro to really set the songs apart for it’s awfully difficult to really determine where you are on the album as a whole once it gets going. If there is such a thing as a stand-out track on here, the slightly faster tempos and more extended energy spent on the blistering tempos on "Writhing Dominion" do stand out somewhat from the pack for the ability to comfortably initiate a beat-down for the majority of its running time, but then it really sounds like "Immemorial Lunacy," "Rotting Above Ground" and the title track for that matter as well. "The Great Chamber" also deserves mention for its inherent ability to sound like a B-side to Hooded Menace only with the cavernous vocals being added over the sprawling Doom-tempo they employ, and that’s a sincere compliment in its purest form. Make no mistake, the band is exceedingly well-accomplished at this particular format and style, it’s just not the most original one they’re attempting which is where this one falls. Perhaps album two is where they’ll hit the mark. (Don Anelli)

(Memento Mori - 2014)

Score: 65

https://www.facebook.com/churchofdisgust