Review by UnhinderedbyTalent for Malignant Altar - Realms of Exquisite Morbidity (2021)

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.