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SENTIENT HORROR
In Service Of The Dead

Redefining Darkness (2024)
Rating: 7.5/10

Trampling the unexpected underfoot with a serious amount of thrashing death is In Service Of The Dead, the new full-length opus from New Jersey’s Sentient Horror. Bubbling like a ravenous mulch offspring of classic Dismember and Entombed, In Service Of The Dead belligerently hones in the HM-2 sound, and while the formula is very much tried and tested, these ghouls rabidly scurry on like a horde of rats whose sole intent is to devour all in their way.

Like some mutated twin of the recent Feral outing (To Usurp The Thrones), In Service Of The Dead foams, froths and belches in every department, well, except the bass which tends to get drowned out all too often. Even so, the carnage ensues with a compact set of face maulers led by guitarist Matt Moliti whose rancid chops sound as if he’s chomping on bones.

Sure, the whole thing stinks of that early Swedish sound, made all the merrier by chainsaw slingers Moliti and Jon Lopez who feverishly operate the machinery through the devastating ‘Born In A Morgue’, and the Carcass-esque monstrosity ‘Glory To The Rotten’. The grinding gears manoeuvre like some colossal skeletal manifestation dripping its last chunks of flesh. The title track strikes with a chord that initially suggests some sort of gloomy premise, but then you’re hit by a murderous flurry of drums and deathly thrash.

Even with slower (which are rare) segments the band still savagely invades your space as if some toolbox killer has burst through your door and applied hammer, nail gun and skill saw in one fatal swoop. ‘Cadaverous Hordes’ is as frantically overwhelming as these ghouls get, Evan Daniele’s drums a rapid fire machine gun mow down.

Still though, the bass of TJ Coon remains lost in the maze and it’s quite a major discrepancy as far as this album goes. It’s a factor that’s difficult to overlook, but needs must in the case of a review and so I still find enjoyment in the grinding scuzz of ‘The Tombcrusher’ and the Autopsy-cum-Entombed blubber of ‘Mutilation Day’.

In Service Of The Dead sees Sentient Horror spewing up some of their best material that gives no shits for originality, but instead turns your head inside out with its salivating aggression.

Neil Arnold

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