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HEADS FOR THE DEAD
The Great Conjuration

Transcending Obscurity (2022)
Rating: 8/10

This international death metal act came to my attention via the ‘Death Calls’ track which appeared on their 2018 debut album Serpent’s Curse, and I always liked the way they dabbled with horror movie themes as exhibited on tracks such as ‘Halloween’ from last year’s Slash ‘N’ Roll EP.

The Great Conjuration, the band’s third full-length, brings more horror-obsessed death metal that exudes a compelling atmosphere while remaining melodic and above all, heavy. It’s not murky death metal that Heads For The Dead dabbles in, there’s thrashy elements exhibited throughout so expect plenty of frenetic outbursts. There’s also plenty of crunchiness in those slower divisions too, the band sort of hinting at Swedish dynamics and the influence of acts such as Entombed and Grave.

Ralph Hauber’s (Revel In Flesh) vocals are deep and rough enough to strip paint and are complemented by the double axe attack of Johnny Pettersson (Wombbath) – who also plays bass – and Matt Moliti (Sentient Horror), while John Rudin’s (Wombbath) exemplary drums just hammer throughout.

It’s no surprise then that the band does have a lot of Wombbath and Sentient Horror in its veins, but I also like the way the guys bring elements of the grandiose and majestic in with the bombastic traits of ‘The Covenant’ and the militant trickles of ‘World Serpent Domination’ that brims with arrogance.

This album is probably the most cinematic of all the offerings put out by the band, just listen to ‘The Curse’ or the horror harmonies of closer ‘The Fog’, so while you get old school aesthetics there’s a never a feeling of stale or mouldy dynamics. Instead, we get keyboard flourishes and seemingly vast, expansive landscapes led by the throaty growls.

Somehow, The Great Conjuration feels wholesome in its horror and it really is difficult to argue with its prowess as a foreboding and self-assured death metal record.

Neil Arnold

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