July 19, 2013 | | 3.5

Hod, The Uncreated Demo

Hod: The Uncreated Demo

How blackened death metal as feral and seething as what we find on Hod’s The Uncreated Demo can be culled from the warm, sunny state of Texas I will never know. Thankfully, I have a pretty solid river of apathy coursing through my corporeal being and, as a result, don’t give a fuck where these guys managed to get their sound. I’m just glad I’m able to terrorize my neighbors with such infernal noise as this.

Much like the band’s first demo that I encountered, Cry and Piss Yourself, back in 2008, the three songs on their latest self-released effort oozes with vileness, but the musicianship here has improved vastly. There’s more hatred in these three songs that most of you are going to know what to do with. “Beneath the Mountains of the Scorpion” gets the blood flowing quickly with off-kilter riffs and unrelenting drum work. The pace is go-go-go right from the start and rarely lets up (except for a decent bit of mosh just after the two minute mark) as Hod pummel their way through memorable guitar work, Reebs’ snarling growls and a rhythm section hell bent on reducing your skull to dust.

“I Am Destroyer” is one of the more memorable songs on the release. The song doesn’t even make it to the two minute mark, which is probably a good thing as it’s a full throttled eruption of crashing drums and driving guitars. It’s not quite as developed as the opener, but I enjoy the amount of vehemence that’s packed into it’s brevity — churning riffs, furious blasts and contempt-filled snarls. “When the Ghouls Feed” wraps up the demo nicely with flying guitar fills and rolling drums. It’s not really a weak song, but doesn’t quite bring the same impact as the previous two songs. Still, it rounds out the release well enough.

Three songs. Just over twelve minutes in run time. The Uncreated Demo is just what one needs to start off their day. It’s furious, well performed and jammed full to it’s evil brim with blasphemous hatred. Hod are certainly showing that their next full-length is going to have some serious potential. I can’t wait!