Nowadays, deathcore for me is like porn; what used to turn me on doesn’t work anymore. Whereas good old-fashioned, man-on-woman and a BJ or belly finish scene did the trick, now, I need a 40-person gang bang, a goat, goggles, Disney cosplay, and a hairdryer to even get remotely hard.

And as for deathcore, a few breakdowns, some rrrrrreeeeeeeees, and dual vocals made me plenty happy, but by god now if it doesn’t have a full-on baroque choir, an orchestra, 40 snorts, and an epic story, I’m bored.

So, in the interest of getting back to basics, I decided to check out the self-released debut (after over a decade of existence and 3 Eps) from Canada’s A Scar For the Wicked, Acolythus, an album based on the Seven Deadly Sins with a co-production/ master from Christian Donaldson (Cryptopsy, A Wake In Providence, Assemble the Chariots, Ingested etc), I so I at least knew it would sound good.

And yes it does sound great, and the music isn’t bad either, culling from the myspace-inspired era of polished, semi-technical, semi-melodic deathcore/ metalcore like Wretched, early Born of Osiris and After the Burial, Within the Ruins as well as the usual suspects like The Black Dahlia Murder, countrymates Despised Icon, Beneath the Massacre and others.

It is punchy, sweep/lead-filled, has some breakdowns, and like similar sounding bands Carrion Vael and Slaughter the Giant) even a few little keyboard flourishes here and there  (“Despicable Existence”, “Acolythus”, “Sacrificial Genocide”, “Son of Dawn”) to keep me somewhat aroused. The almost throwback sound is technical and shreddy, and certainly belies the band’s formation in 2012 with many of the influences I hear.

The breakdowns are dare I say old school, without doing the whole over-the-top, post-Lorna Shore breakdowns, and the vocals, are again a bit of a throwback with simple growls and rasps- no overdone demonic pig squeals or snorts.

The riffs are enjoyable and cover the spectrum of blasts and grooves, as heard in the excellent title track, “Into a Coalescent Damnation”, “Sacrificial Genocide” and “Son of Dawn” all show a tight, well-executed grasp of the style and a simple more throwback style of deathcore/metalcore.

[Visit the band's website]

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