Album Review: Hour of Penance - 'Regicide'

Hour Of Penance are one of Italy’s most popular (and, brutal!) death metal outfits, with their articulately composed and menacing sound managing to excite the metal scene. New album, ‘Regicide,’ is another brutal onslaught of their aggressive and intense death metal formula, showing no need to change their craft. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

The album is straight to the point with its brutality and intense aggression. The first few songs are simply pounding and powerful, which sets the ferocious tone that resonates throughout the full-length. If there is one thing that Hour Of Penance know how to master it is their guitar riffs and that is no exception here, with tracks such as ‘Spears of Sacred Doom’ absolutely nailing it.

The beginning of the beautifully titled, ‘Desecrates Souls,’ is rippled with this solid guitar work and accompanied by the fast paced foundation of the drums. It's these moments that reflect and equally reveal the very essence of the band. Hour Of Penance don't let the heavy elements come at the expense of control and execution. It's well-mixed and fluent.

After the bone crushing beginning of the record there are some tracks that offer some diversity without straying from the overall vicious tendencies. ‘Sealed Into Ecstasy’ creates a powerful atmosphere with a slightly slower sound but clean and dynamic drums to back it up.

As the album comes to a close you'll easily be left raw from the intensity. However,  the hints of melodic influence throughout manage to soothe you just the right amount. 'Regicide' isn’t too different from the past but it has an ideal death metal formula that pulls you in and hooks you until the end.

'Regicide' is an intense and fast paced album. It is solid, well produced and exudes talent. However if you were expecting some alternate and/or different sound you wont find it here, it is Hour of Penance's signature style through and through.

1. Through The Triumphal Arch
2. Reforging The Crowns
3. Desecrated Souls
4. Resurgence of The Empire
5. Spears of Sacred Doom
6. Sealed Into Ecstasy
7. Redeemer Of Atrocity
8. Regicide
9. The Sun Worship
10. The Seas of Light
11. Theogony