Returning with new fire and more technical approach, Switchblade Jesus incorporates their Doom/Stoner tones with more thrashaholic riffs and Noise Metal at times. Helped with the addition of bassist Chris Black who brings his love for Death and Prog metal to fill out the sound even more.
Fans of: early Mastodon, Kylesa, High on Fire, Neurosis, Unsane, Baptists
\"The album in question runs an unfuckwithably tight 27 minutes and boasts a head-crunching blend of sludge and noise riffs that feels culled from Remission-and-nothing-else-except-maybe-also-Lifesblood Mastodon and maybe some pre-nü-metal Helmet thrown in, and still keeps some level of atmosphere through its centerpiece/side B leadoff title-track and momentary breathers like those in “Behind the Monolith” or at the end of “Forgotten,” the latter of which is topped with a blistered J. Robert Oppenheimer quoting the Bhagavad Gita. That popular sample is backed by “Behemoth,” which runs a heavy-thrashy two-point-five minutes and, indeed, kind of sounds like it’s in the process of becoming death, the destroyer of worlds.
I’ll hope to have more on it before it’s out, but to put it bluntly, Death Hymns is a fucking beast. Its noisy aspects might catch you off guard if all you know of Switchblade Jesus is the self-titled, but give it a chance and you will not regret letting it thoroughly pummel you. - The Obelisk\"
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\"This is amplifier worship of the highest order: everything is as hot as it can be, with distorted riffs crackling with static and the vocals threatening to dissolve into incomprehensible noise. The crunchy fuzz somewhat buries the articulation on the riffs, but your mind can construct the missing detail through all the energy that's transmitted in its place. Only the bare essentials of the drum kit can -- and should -- be heard through this corrosive spew: the boom of the kick drum, the thud of the snare, the cannon-like impact of tom drums, and the electrifying high-end of the cymbals. Mixed together, \"Behemoth\" hits like a gut punch, maximizing its use of the entire frequency spectrum with overwhelming bulk.
Death Hymns is almost like the band took all the riffs, all the doom, and all the heaviness from an hour-plus album and compressed it into an explosive burst not even half that length. With the groove and weightiness of more cautious approaches preserved, the band's recklessness propels the infectious riffing to a near-spiritual experience: all glory to the unceasing rampage.- Invisible Oranges\"
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released November 20, 2020
Recorded and mixed by Jonathan Elizondo at Black Tongue Recording
Additional recording by Josh Maxwell (That With Tusks).
