Much like any other scene or even fandom for the wider entertainment spectrum Metal is vastly unknown to outsiders. It’s strikingly comical in fact just how little people know about the genre. I mean take the somewhat recent Tool outbursts from people and artists shocked at this ‘unknown’ band topping charts. Again look at how many times you’ve been asked by a colleague who you’re going to see, to which you reply ‘Iron Maiden’ and the answer is ‘Oh! I’ve heard of them, are they still going?’ Frankly people’s knowledge hasn’t past much further than the 80’s, to them Metal is but a word bandied about for a brief time in history. What they don’t know is that it’s perhaps one of the biggest scenes around.
Speaking of wider appeal and the size of the Metal madness the infection has spread across the globe and today we look to Turkey. Hailing from Istanbul come Hellsodomy whom formed in 2011 yet didn’t bring about a full length album until 2016’s Chaostorm. The band rather atypically focus upon Blasphemy and Anti-religious messages, something I can personally very much get behind. This latest album from Saturnal Records proclaims to be no different. The aptly named second full length Morbid Cult is sure to be a whirlwind of hellfire, but is it all a bit too cliché?
The album opens with Into Perversion which is an instrumental showing the generic Death Metal power of the band. It’s been said before though, I don’t like it when purist bands do this sort of thing, totally pointless. Luckily Endless Demise crashes straight into the thick of it with similarly atypical riffs and musicianship, yet some pretty decent bordering upon the Blackened vocals. Indeed as Pestilence Of Black Blood so boldly displays there is a Blackened presence within the guitars and bass also. This is certainly a Blackened Death Metal record at its heart but not one that is overtly exciting.
Sadly crossing over to the second half of the release the album seldom rises above the level of what I like to call ‘Support Band Metal’ by which I mean the sort of artist whom you nod your head to at a show, turn to your friend and say ‘that was pretty good’ and then that’s the end of it. It’s a great shame that this is the case as the band have a pure Blackened Death Metal flare that if injected with a little more memorability could really be something worth shouting about. By the time we reach Dazed Victims the album actually becomes tiresome, feeding again into the ‘Support Band’ model. There really is little to differentiate tracks as riffs are recycled along with drum patterns and the vocals cease to impress, this continues through the albums closure.
I’m perhaps coming across a little harsh, and I don’t mean to. Truth be told Morbid Cult isn’t bad, it’s just been done before, needless Metal turned out for no real purpose. Like I say it is inoffensive and indeed if Hellsodomy were to come play a local show I would likely attend but to say I would be greatly excited would be a lie. If you’re new to Blackened Death Metal then perhaps swing yourself over to the more barbaric War Metal lashings of Blasphemy, Revenge or Conqueror. Hellsodomy are Extreme Metal by numbers and really, whilst listenable I’m very underwhelmed.
(5/10 George Caley)
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