November 1, 2013 | , | 3.5

Sacrocurse, Sulphur Blessing

Sacrocurse: Sulphur Blessing

Holy Hell. The debut tape from Texas’ Sacrocurse is about as unhinged and demented as blackened death metal can get. Sulphur Blessing sounds as if Satan himself is dunking your head in flaming pits of boiling sulphur repeatedly in some dark, vicious baptism in the deepest depths of Hades. The four songs here are violent, chaotic and blisteringly raw.

“Sacrocurse Temple” sets the tone immediately and with little fanfare. Rabid drum work and dive-bombing guitars fuel a ferocious aural skull fucking for the next three and a half minutes as snarling screams and layered guttural utterances fill the air. The group does slow briefly about midway through the opener with a solid amount of head-banging goodness, but don’t stay too long before a chaotic, flesh searing solo gives way to machine gun drumming for the remainder. “Command Demonic Prayers” follow suit with swirling guitars and manic drums.

This is some seriously violent shit. And it’s a good thing this tape is only four songs. I’m not all that sure that my sanity can take much more of the driving wall of malevolence. The demonic laughter about halfway through is sort of contrived, but still fits the whole attitude that Sacrocurse are slinging. The title track is just as (if not more) barbaric than the previous songs. Unfortunately, it’s also also as this point that the din starts to become a bit repetitive. Thankfully, there’s a solo or two here and there to break up the buzzing riffage.

The closing track of “C.O.N.V.U.L.S.E.” isn’t quite as driving as the guys opt for a slightly more blackened tinge and solid chug to their riffs. The drums are still unrelenting which is cool as is the incorporation of a deeper vocal delivery to help separate the song out from the rest. All in all, Sulphur Blessing is one of the more violent and destructive debuts I’ve heard in a while. I’m not sure i’m going to be right in the head for the remainder of the day.