Horror and death metal is just as much comfort food for me as peanut butter and jelly is for others. It just goes so well together, that it’s impossible not to do the brutal combination. Heads For The Dead have crept back out from their catacombs to deliver their blood and a venom-soaked third full-length album, The Great Conjuration (Transcending Obscurity).

Some death metal bands add a sprinkle or dash of horror elements here and there but with Heads For The Dead, it comes in heaps and gobs. The album art alone looks like a one-sheet poster to a lost and forgotten Lucio Fulci film and just like Fulci’s movies, this album is brutal as fuck.

Heads For The Dead perform a tight and brutal style of death metal complete with chainsaw guitars, murky riffs and some great guttural vocals. To keep the horror flowing, the band incorporates some viscous high pitched demonic shrieks that keep the music (and the blood) running cold.

Opening track, ‘The Jewel of the Seven Stars’ has a real Entombed feel to it, as the song starts and becomes more of a banger as the song goes on. The drums here could punch a hole through your chest. The rest of the album continues on with a mostly relentless assault of brutality. Just like in any horror film, when the action starts to slow down, that’s when things become more tense and frightening. Heads For The Dead add some great sound clips from films as well as synth and electronics that really flesh out the tracks.

For me, ‘Blood Hammer’ is the stand out song on this album. This track is more of a “death ‘n roll,” track that even includes the use of some clean vocals. Don’t let that sway you. They really hit well on this track. The music is less brutal than the rest of the album but the groove on this song is catchy as fuck.

The album ends with ‘The Fog’, which is, of course, a nod to John Carpenter’s classic 1980 film. It starts off slower before developing into a much more sinister sound that does a great job emulating the feel of the cult classic film. The harmonizing guitars are top notch and haunting electronics perfectly close the album.

Stop reading and start listening!

Buy the abum here: https://headsforthedead.bandcamp.com/album/the-great-conjuration-death-metal

8 / 10

ANDREW RISCH