Review by Jeger on September 11, 2025.

What has Death Metal become? My one-time favorite genre of extreme metal has succumbed to the curse of modernity: classless, undignified and generic. With every Cattle Decapitation album that gets released, a part of Kam Lee's soul dies. With every abominable AI cover art-donned record that gets released, a piece of Vince Locke's spirit diminishes… Call me a Curmudgeon, but I grew up in the '90's - the Florida DM heyday! The age of shock & awe, of appalling Bible Thumpers and getting suspended from school for wearing my "Butchered at Birth" shirt. We can't relive the past… However, there is a place where the spirit of those pure days thrives, and that place is the Underground. Grab a shovel, your old spiked gauntlets and pentagram necklace, because it's off into the ghastly realm of Ritualhammer that we embark.

Stoke the crop fires! Watch them spread wildly o'er pestilence' infection and into where your children sleep. Horror tempests above, steeped in abyssal flames below where God holds no sway; no authority over the carnage of this extinction level event. Ah, old-school diabolical Death Metal of apocalyptic proportions… Not even the eldest days of Morbid Angel can compare to this. With their debut LP, "Grand Pestilential Flame", due for a September 26 release via Werewolf Records, Finland's Ritualhammer synergistically intertwine old-school Deicide with the merciless stylings of Black Witchery; resulting in a most intimidating recording. Not for the faint of heart or for those who lack testicular fortitude. Contemporary DM fans will hate this thing, and that's the way it should be. Death Metal forged to admonish the Herd and to glorify the Horde. Satan approved… True fucking Death Metal done the Underground way. If Werewolf has their butchery-calloused hands in it then you know it's going to be the most treacherous endeavor imaginable.

The opening titular track - a twisted concoction of filthy rhythms, grinding riffs and slimy leads. Production quality? Well, that depends on your understanding of quality. Polished and one-dimensional? I don't fucking think so. It's like this thing was produced in Tom Morris' basement. You know, back before the Morrisound era. "Grand Pestilential Flame" doesn't lack clarity. It lacks nothing: textured, saturated and mixed to perfection is this album - a celebration of the analog era. Dialing back the tempo a bit during "Edulretni". A hypnotic, quasi-melodic intro carries over into a series of Obituary - "Infection" - like riffs, only slower and more torqued - a brief instrumental interlude that runs headlong into "Soils Of The Evervenemous". Getting a little more experimental vocally as high-pitched wails and sinister laughter convey a heinous vibe; a dual-sided attack. 28 minutes worth of Angel-raping, earth-scorching DM is "Grand Pestilential Flame".

It feels good to know that there are still Death Metal bands out there that get it. Collectives like Ritualhammer carry the torch for true DM and will never achieve mainstream notoriety because too many idiots want shit like Deicide's latest album, "Banished By Sin". Fuck that. Gimme the grime, the filth, sweat-soaked gravely digs under rapturous skies and apocalypse. Gimme Wolfbastard, Kingdom and Ritualhammer. An imposing debut and a foreshadowing of nightmarish happenings to come is "Grand Pestilential Flame". Hail the Underground! Hail true Death Metal.

Rating: 8 out of 10