ALBUM REVIEW: Mass Grave – Hierophant

Italian bruisers HIEROPHANT are not newcomers to the realms of producing barbaric death metal, with three studio albums and an EP under their belts they are due to let loose their latest serving of devastation entitled Mass Grave into the world via Season Of Mist on November 4th.

The band waste little time taking a “blink and you’ll miss it” type approach pile-driving through the first half of the album with a series of grindcore-like body blows, which for the most part fall shy of a matter of minutes per track leaving you in a state of bewilderment and preparing you for the potential for this album to be over in record time. Fortunately this is not the case as towards the latter stages they decide to slow down proceedings with a more measured outlook providing some doom-laden, crunchy riffs and raspy tones. In Decay especially is guaranteed to get your head banging.

The album closer Eternal Void clocks in at over 11 minutes but this is very misleading as after the 4 minute mark the song disappointingly fades out to disturbing feedback/interference style noises for the remainder of the track. After such velocity the albums culminates not with a bang but a whimper.

Despite this being their 4th studio album HIEROPHANT seem to be experiencing some inner turmoil as to whether they should execute the tactics of all out fury or use a more subdued technique. One thing however is very clear, HIEROPHANT have orchestrated this bludgeoning horde of tracks with the sole aim of leaving you without a face. Despite the perplexing tempo changes throughout Mass Grave is a solid slab of thunderous death metal which will please established fans and fresh meat alike.

Rating: 6/10

Mass Grave is set for release on November 4th via Season of Mist. 

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