Father Befouled - Morbid Destitution of Convenant
Relapse Records
Death Metal
11 songs (38:33)
Release year: 2010
Relapse Records
Reviewed by Charles
It would be remiss to write a review of this latest release from Father Befouled without at least mentioning today’s local top story: the first ever state visitation of Pope Benedict XVI to the benighted populace of the United Kingdom. He is here to warn us of the perils of drifting too far from our Christian heritage. And here I sit listening to Morbid Destitution of Covenant. One of us, it seems, has lost our way.

Talking of misdirections, like much of the best death metal this album feels like the tributary pipes of the Leeds sewage system have been rerouted away from the underground kingdom of rats and poo just a few meters beneath our feet, and instead upwards towards my laptop speakers. This is the kind of band that could be relied upon to maintain a steady flow of harsh and blasphemous noise even if the Holy Ghost himself were to drift through the floorboards and demand the ritual sacrifice of thirty goats lest they be turned to pillars of salt. (Or whatever he does.) The promotional information I get from Relapse lists Incantation as the key reference point. Well, that certainly makes sense. This is booming and rumbling American death metal, with wonderfully deep vocals that sound like the lid sliding slowly off a sarcophagus. Jagged riffs are less like hooks and more like contorted bellows of gurgling wrath.

Mind you, I don’t think this quite reaches the level of extremity of the classic New York bands. The sound itself isn’t as staggeringly deep and menacing, and the actual playing isn’t as adept. The slow sections on tunes like Sacrilegious Defilement of Deranged Salvation don’t have quite the same sense of intimidating madness and the blasting falls short of the requisite upper level of intensity when compared to, say, Onward to Golgotha. Perhaps another comparison is last year’s Teitanblood debut. This has the same sense of unreconstructed, heretical noise worship, that rejects showy musicianship and instead of amusing the ears with killer riffs and solos, seeks to describe an infernal scene through sound. Perhaps here they come off slightly worse as well; the relative lack of variety in the songs means there’s a limit to their evocative power.

This is maybe a little unfair of me. Yes, Father Befouled come off worse against both Incantation and Teitanblood, but those are great bands. At its best Morbid Destitution of Covenant is still capable of moments of marvellously chaotic intensity. As stated above, the vocals are the highlight, and as they hiss and growl above the truly savage riffing of, say, Vomiting Impurity (the guitars on this tune are like rusty knives hacking frantically through rotten wood) the effect is undeniably powerful. Whilst in many ways this is a workmanlike release, it reveals a devotion to blasphemy strong enough to defend the listener’s mind against the faux-purity of holier preachings.

Killing Songs :
Sacriligeous Defilement of Deranged Salvation, Vomiting Impurity
Charles quoted 75 / 100
0 readers voted
Average:
 0
You did not vote yet.
Vote now

There are 6 replies to this review. Last one on Wed Sep 22, 2010 9:12 pm
View and Post comments