Review by Jeger on August 27, 2024.

Ireland - the land of the greenest grass, the heartiest ales, the toughest boxers, and the grimiest death metal. In 2019, Cailleach shat from her womb five depravity-drenched bastards and Grave Sermon was born… 

Knowing Jack shit about the Irish metal scene outside of Primordial, this one will come from inspiration and that only. And from what I can tell going in as 'This Mortal Disease' - the opening track to Grave Sermon’s forthcoming EP, Liturgical Perversions (September 1, 2024), unfolds, it’s to gargantuan grooves and plowing double-bass-currents, like if Jungle Rot and Suffocation fucked and had a little bastard of their own. Shit, you can wrap your head around, man. A simple pleasure like a tall one and a fresh cigarette - nuanced and complex here and there, but boiling down to simple riff-laden savagery. Towering over you and looming like saturated clouds of acid rain is every riff, like a doomsday earthquake is every percussive explosion, and there you are, the meat in a cataclysm sandwich. Influences ranging from those above to a little Morbid Angel worship in 'Vial of Wrath' as I’m taken back to the aggressive “Altars Of Madness” era. 

This is material you listen to again. Much like the Aussie product (Abramelin, Werewolves), this is conventional axe-grinding, kill your mother and fuck your dog death metal, but only at surface level. Underneath the layers of sonic carnage, we find lyrical excursions into the realms of penance and perdition - a slight against charlatanism and zealotry. 

A no-bullshit, quality EP that features four nicely composed album cuts: segmented yet fluid and unpredictable yet cozy like a recliner on a roller coaster. The final track, 'An Unfathomable Pact', is about as statement-making as closers get - a show of force and a big fuck you to Metal Archives for giving their debut EP such a shitty review… Skinless-level savagery on all fronts, relentless like an adrenaline-fueled claw hammer bludgeoning. Legit fucking death metal here. Who needs a bunch of bells and whistles? Grinding, chopping, and fucking obliterating everything in their path the old-fashioned way is Grave Sermon throughout the entirety of this EP. 

Everything in The States is sounding pretty much the same as far as how superficial the DM scene has become. I think I’ll assemble one of those Cuban refugee floating cars and take a drift across the pond over to Ireland for some true fucking death metal, a pint, and maybe a bout of fisticuffs. Bring on that LP, boys. As H.I. McDunnough once put it: “I’ll be waitin'…”

Rating: 8.5 out of 10