January 2022 Feature Release – The Horde Edition

So just like that we find that a new month is upon us which of course means that we’ll be nominating a brand new monthly feature release for each clan. This essentially means that we’re asking you to rate, review & discuss our chosen features for no other reason than because we enjoy the process & banter. We’re really looking forward to hearing your thoughts on our chosen releases so don’t be shy.

This month’s feature release for The Horde has been nominated by Ben. It's the brand new "Realms of Exquisite Morbidity" debut album from Houston-based death metal outfit Malignant Altar.

https://metal.academy/releases/32911

In a strange way Ben, I can see why you would have requested this as a featured release. I don't know if you've actually heard the album yet and this is just an excuse to listen to a new OSDM album (as many of my featured releases turn out to be). But given that most of the death metal you identify as "classic" is either of the progressive or melodic variety, this was not that bad. I like how the album does not resort to the bog standard "fast riffage then, suddenly, breakdown" that is commonplace in modern metal, but Malignant Altar are just comfortable playing a slower and brooding form of pummeling death metal; much more inline with death doom. It certainly makes it stand out!

That being said, one of my biggest issues with DM songwriting is the lack of melodic focus. This album does not contain very many hooks and as a result, some tunes just sort meander. And that's not even getting into the fact that some tunes become indistinguishable from one another. At least the album is short. Not the tracks; which average at about six minutes each. But they don't feel bogged down by having too much stuff that goes nowhere. It's good, but I wouldn't go much farther than that.

7/10

Featuring drummer Dobber Beverly and guitarist Beau Beasley of grindcore act Insect Warfare and progressive metallers Oceans of Slumber, along with the latter's Mat V. Aleman, Malignant Altar prove that they are extremely capable musicians and songwriters who are able to master a variety of metal genres. Under the Malignant Altar guise they tackle the long-established genre of doomy old-school death metal that first reared it's foetid, ugly head around the turn of the nineties.

I've got to say this is right up my street, the filthy, old-school sound is exactly the right stench of death metal that I enjoy most of all. Whilst it is better produced than the old classics and sounds clearer and cleaner as a consequence, that doesn't detract much at all from the fact that these guys seem to know exactly what they are about in reproducing that cavernous 1990's sound. There is not much room for variety or innovation within this style of death metal, it's rules being set in stone at least a couple of decades ago now, so new bands like Malignant Altar are judged on how well their releases stand up to aforementioned classics from bands like Autopsy, Asphyx and Cianide. Realms of Exquisite Morbidity stands up very well indeed and rivals one of my modern OSDM favourites, Coffins' Buried Death, for sheer festering, evil-sounding, filthy, modern death metal, it's chugging riffs and crawling, menacing, doom-ridden sections exactly hitting my death metal bullseye. This predictability in OSDM can lead to the tracks starting to merge together into a bit of a blurry miasma, but Malignant Altar fully realise this and so keep the album to a concise 33 minutes, which is a bonus point in their favour.

Nice choice for a feature Ben, cheers for bringing it to my attention. 4/5

I really enjoyed this one. Of course it doesn't do anything new whatsoever but it never claimed to & instead offers an easily palatable & professionally produced brand of death metal that should satisfy all fans of the genre. Malignant Altar sit right in the sweet spot between Morbid Angel & the darker, swampier Incantation sound which seems to be a bit of a trend in recent times but they do it all exceptionally well. I particularly enjoy the doomier sections which are clearly a strength for the band. The two minute dark ambient title track is staggeringly good & may well be my favourite track actually. You can't really go wrong with this one. The quality never dips below tier two level & you can easily tell that Malignant Altar have a very strong death metal pedigree.

4/5

If you're wondering why I selected this release as the January feature, I did so after a single listen. I've recently been trying to figure out why I don't listen to modern death metal anywhere near as much as the 90s, early 00s era. I've come to realise that while there are a lot of extremely brutal / technical death bands out there that create immensely impressive music, they often fail to give me the emotional feels that I got from those earlier classics. So many modern bands seem to be trying to up the ante when it comes to production, precision, brutality and technical sorcery, but I just don't get that horror-movie like, dark as fuck feel from them. As soon as I pressed play on this bad boy, I had that feeling, and had to share my appreciation of it.

Malignant Altar are already familiar to me with their second demo from 2019 already adorning my music library. I recall picking them up around the time that Maggot Stomp started to make waves in the underground, with MA being one of the many OSDM bands that inhabited that filthy roster of theirs.

Retaining the same line up as the first two demo sees the band able to build on the promise of the more crawling and cavernous death metal nicely. This sounds like a band who have played together for a while; showcased nicely on the flowing opening to Usurping the Pantheon Crown which feels tight. The track itself then shifts through various stages of nefarious death metal, replete with some Morbid Angel-like sonics thrown in casually like Trey Azagthoth just did a drive-by sonic shooting through the studio almost randomly as they recorded the track.

With comparisons with the style of Azagthoth and co almost inevitable, it is only fair to point out that there is more to the Malignant Altar palette than just some benign old school worship. You will get hits of Cianide, Incantation, Dead Congregation as well as more modern references like Tomb Mold and Cerebral Rot thrown into the mix. As such Malignant Altar are a band who seem to know very much where they sit in the death metal spectrum; able to nod to their influences and their peers alike in a very assured acknowledgement of their surroundings.

The ghastly vocals of Wilson P are reminiscent of Craig Pillard and are the perfect accompaniment to those huge riffs. These gargantuan slabs of death metal riffing are underpinned by an agonising melodic wail at times (Ceremonial Decapitator) that coat proceeding in a desperate atmosphere of anxiety and hopelessness. I do not really care that the album does not change that much in terms of its formula, I find there are enough subtle nuances from track to track that I pick up on with repeated listens to keep me entertained and coming back for more. In some regards, its appeal is not always as obvious as I first thought, and it is one of those records that rewards with repeated listens.

Realms of Exquisite Morbidity is a fantastic celebration of death metal that commemorates what has come before it whilst saluting the modern scene also. No fucking frills death metal is alive and well and living in Houston, Texas.

4.5/5