The guitars are mud caked in a morass of molasses. The vocal performance is, dare I say, a clinic on how to spew the wretched filth that is old school Death Metal. The omnipresent drums never interfere but simply carve out the route for the rest to follow. Stir all that up in a cauldron with a hint of disgust and a touch of revulsion and the end result is Genocide Pact’s newest self-titled album (Relapse Records), and with it, eight tracks of nineties-era muck and grime.

 

Tim Mullaney and Demir Soyer pair up with dirgey guitar riffs and sludgy fills. Skinsman Connor Donegan’s cymbals flow freely yet valuably, especially cropping up on ‘Deprive/Degrade’ and ‘Barbaric Regression.’

Sharing a label with the likes of Hooded Menace, Coffins and Incantation, the D.C.-based quartet finds themselves in strong company. Though the group showcased they are fully capable of going it alone. Surprisingly enough, Genocide Pact formed only in 2013, and it’s hard to deny that the future looks promising.

‘Perverse Dominion’ in particular harkens back to Florida thirty years ago, both in the glacial tempo and primitive production. Never was the vintage style more evident than when Mullaney yelped, ‘They paved a path for you to follow / Still, it leads to the gallows,’ thrusting such raw power behind the chilling last word. The technique is far from overdone throughout the thirty-three minutes.

The previously mentioned ‘Barbaric’ brings the doom before Donegan’s crushing drums set things straight. The galloping ‘Industrial Obedience’ bleeds into droning feedback, an apt album closer.

Genocide Pact is a beacon of hope for death metal fans both old and new alike. The themes we have come to grow and enjoy flourish. The album sounds equal parts tight and toxic. The foursome resembled a pride of caged lions, waiting to be let back into the wild to reach their full potential and wreak havoc on the world around them

Buy the album here: https://genocidepact.bandcamp.com

8 / 10

MATT COOK