If you’re a fan of HEADS FOR THE DEAD, then I have some good news for you! They have released their second EP to date, “In the Absence of Faith!” It’s not an album, of course, but it’s better than nothing, right? For you metalheads who have not heard of this band, I’ll introduce you real quick. HEADS FOR THE DEAD is an international Death Metal band that formed in 2017, with members hailing from different countries like the United States and Sweden. They have released three full-length albums so far: “Serpent’s Curse” in 2018, “Into the Red” in 2020, and “The Great Conjuration” just last year. HEADS FOR THE DEAD had their debut EP “Slash ‘n Roll” released in 2021, and now they have their second one. Now, allow me to give you my review on this 5-track record, which was overall a great piece of Death Metal.

“Heart of Darkness” is the opening track to this EP, a nearly 4 ½-minute song that mostly progresses at a mid-tempo. The slow, heavy guitar riffs from Matt Moliti and Jonny Pettersson are most responsible and even give the song a slight Death-Doom sound, when combined with Ralf Hauberk’s growling vocals. Jon Rudin’s drumming stays at pace with the mid-tempo music, but he does throw in a few blast beats in the middle of the opener. Things start to get faster and more aggressive on the second track “Taste of Terror.” Whereas “Heart of Darkness” was more along the lines of Death-Doom, this song takes on elements of Thrash Metal. Rather than keep his drumming at a steady pace, Rudin uses skank beats, and the guitarists use Death Metal-style tremolo picking. You’ll find that the next two songs, “The God Forsaken” and “Self-Immolation in Fire,” use the same aggressive Deathrash style. In my opinion, “Self-Immolation in Fire” was the most intense, and I’m not just talking about the instrumentals. Hearing Ralf Hauberk demand in a menacing growl to let him burn himself to death almost sent chills down my spine. As the song comes to a close, you can hear a person screaming as a fire crackles in the background. As a result, I definitely rank this track as my favorite on “In the Absence of Faith.” However, I can’t say the same about the record’s closing song “Possession.” The beginning of the song involved keyboards, which kind of took me by surprise, and it had the same slow to mid-tempo rhythm as “Heart of Darkness.” In hindsight, the keyboards in “Possession” and the slower pace shared between the opening and closing tracks just didn’t quite fit in with the style of the three tracks in between.

So, in conclusion, is “In the Absence of Faith” a perfect EP? No. Is it still worth a listen? Absolutely. With 5 tracks totaling up to about 23 ½ minutes, it does the work of a Death Metal album in half the time length of one. “In the Absence of Faith” could have done without a couple of things, namely the keyboards and the back-and-forth between a slow and fast pace. After all, consistency is appreciated. If you can overlook this though–which I definitely can–then listen to this EP and hopefully, you’ll enjoy it.