The American Grindcore/Death Metal duo BLIGHT HOUSE have released their second full-length album “Blight the Way,” via American record label Nefarious Industries. The new album–released just last month on August 14th–comes five years after their debut release “Summer Camp Sex Party Massacre” in 2018 and nine years after independently releasing their self-titled EP in 2014. BLIGHT HOUSE is a duo, so just like their two previous records, “Blight the Way” shows Frank Owen Gorey on all instrumental duties and Frank Lloyd Blight fulfilling the vocal side of things. The album itself is not a terribly long listen. It’s only ten tracks clocking up to less than half an hour. However, I can honestly say that I was not a fan of the musical quality on BLIGHT HOUSE’s second album release.

Initially, when I saw that “Blight the Way” was only 27 minutes and 15 seconds divided up amongst 10 tracks, I breathed a sigh of relief. I didn’t have to worry about any prolonged, unnecessary fills or instrumental tracks. Unfortunately, that relief did not last long, because the first turn-off for me with this record was the production quality. It wasn’t completely terrible, but it still sounded muffled as if there was some background noise against BLIGHT HOUSE’s music. It reminded me of when SEPULTURA first released their debut album “Morbid Visions” in 1986, before it was re-recorded by the CAVALERA CONSPIRACY earlier this year. I also noted the Extreme Metal duo’s heavy use of audio clips, even in the background during their musical segments. I didn’t mind it at first because audio isn’t uncommon in Metal, but by the time I reached the fourth track “Too Ugly to Live, Too Dumb to Die,” I got tired of it and noticed they were using it on every song. Despite the poor production quality and overused audio segments, I did try to pay attention to the instrumental work of Frank Gorey and vocals of Frank Blight. Frank Gorey’s guitar riffs were very good and mainly had a mid-tempo, Death Metal-style speed to give the album’s music its horror-filled atmosphere. His drumming style was also very enjoyable, but I was disappointed by the lack of blast beats, which are essential to both Death Metal and Grindcore. I did occasionally hear some, such as on the opening track “Dismembers Only,” but they were still very few and far in between throughout the record. As for Frank Blight’s vocals, I feel that they were one of the few strong points of “Blight the Way,” along with the instruments. The vocals were mostly deep, guttural, and menacing, although there weren’t many Grindcore-style shouts and high-pitched screams. There was a little creativity by BLIGHT HOUSE with the use of recorded clean female vocals, such as on the closing song “Acephalophilia III - Hopelessly Headless for You.”

Overall, I really did not like “Blight the Way” by BLIGHT HOUSE. The otherwise good Extreme Metal music was significantly ruined by the bad production quality and overused audio clips. As for the music, for a duo that plays a fusion of Death Metal and Grindcore, their second album sounded a lot more like Death Metal with faint hints of the latter. Usually, bands release a second album that was better than the previous. This was not the case with “Blight The Way.” If you’re looking for a good Death Metal/Grindcore album, please don’t place your expectations here. You’ll be gravely disappointed.