DEATHCULT are a Swedish Black/Death Metal band who formed in 2006. This is their second album following on from their debut "Beasts of Faith" released in 2016. It is released through Invictus Productions.

This is my second ever review of an album in the Black/Death Metal genre and starts promising enough with the instrumental "Iron Beclawed Rules The Divine". It starts off with ominous synths and a single church bell before thrashing madly with double-kick drums and heavy rhythm guitars. I quite liked this as an intro.

Then the longest track at 8.00 "On Primal Wings" introduces the vocals and I use the term loosely. S.Phoberos just barks or squeals the lyrics un-inventively and is just too low in the mix to decipher what he's saying. I managed to Google the lyrics but it was hard to even match the lyrics to the vocals. It actaully detracted from the music which was competent enough with some prominent rhythm guitar and some doomier parts mixed in with the thrashier elements. However, the lead guitar was way too scratchy and felt uninspired and again, along with the drums and vocals, was too low in the mix. The rhythm guitars are the prominent force in the mix and the rest sounds muddied.

It's the same problem with "Doxology and Putrescence" where there's a mid-pace to the song where a scratchy lead guitar too low in the mix fails to make an impact and it just becomes a rhythm guitar track.  The drums whilst competent enough never make an impact because they're too low in the mix. Also lyrically DEATHCULT must have swallowed a dictionary because there's a lot of complicated terminology. If the production and vocals had made the journey worth it, I would have made the effort to decipher them.

I did like the doomy riff to "Trepanation Rites" which sounds suitably ominous but the scratchy lead guitar detracts from the overall mood. The rhythm guitar is solid enough on this track but thst's about it.

"Black Vapour Coagulation" has a great melodic start with a definite SLAYER vibe and soon builds into a riff-tastic thrashy track. There's more dynamic changes to the music and is easily my 'favourite' track on the album.

The final track "Alastor" is interesting with a spoken word intro, some thrashy riffing, doomy melody but the leads are pretty uninspired, boring and sporadic through the song.  The church bell makes a welcome return and the vocals are few (thankfully).

As this is my second Black/Death Metal release, I do at least have something to compare it to. NOCTURNAL GRAVES's  album "An Outlaw's Stand" was way better produced and the vocals, guitars and drums assaulted your ears and was an uncomfortable listen for the right reasons.

DEATHCULT on the other hand have produced a pretty poor release. The rhythm guitar is the star of the show and grooves and thrashes in the right places. However, everything else is too low in the mix and the lead guitar is pretty lifeless, uninspired and horribly scratchy. The vocals are just irritating and may as well be barking out a shopping list for all the difference they make. I want drums to pound my ears and propel the songs along but the rhythm guitar does that and though it does it well, the overall poor production detracts from the overall impact.