This international group hit the horror market hard with their rampant third release of gnarly death metal. The band consist of members of Revel In Flesh, Wombbath, Massacre and Sentient Horror to name but a few, so by the bands named, you should get an appreciated of the flavour of death metal you will encounter.

Opening with ‘The Jewel of the Seven Stars’, on a standard rotten death metal release you would normally say job done, the album continues as is, without much in the way of change. However on this album, the group have added a touch more to the standard mix. You have some soundtrack influences from keyboard elements; however, by the time you are at and past the guitar solo, you are a bloody pulp because you have been hammered hard to the high standard material on offer. ‘The Covenant’ is slower, earthy; it has some nice lead breaks from its start. Can you say emotive in death metal!? Anyway, the keyboard additions lead you into the death metal that came from the bands considered melodic black metal of old, to me anyway. However, the real juggernaut remains in the background. ‘The Breaking Wheel’ tortures you, I love the kick drum fills at the start. We then proceed to what we have come to expect. Solid, classic dead metal. ‘World Serpent Dominion’ takes me to some Gorefest material. Whilst ‘Bloody Hammer’ is very different, out of the box. Almost pure metal. The chord progression reminds me of WASP. This is where I feel the horror theme gains more momentum, as I am focussing more on the overall arrangement rather than the pure carnage of these death metal masters. The closer ‘The Fog’ has a Dissection influence, the lyrical content should be self-explanatory and the solo work is melodic, vibrant and precise.

Overall, HFTD take many influences, package it in horror and gore (including the artwork) and present an album and style that is more than pure death metal. The vision, the package works. This maybe more expansive than other releases, but that does not detract from the quality and delivery.

(8/10 Paul Maddison)

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