Okay, lets see what we have here.
If you are familiar with former Angelcorpse guitarist Gene Palubicki in the slightest, you know he’s a dude that does his thing and does it well, regardless of what band moniker he’s currently doing business under; and Blasphemic Cruelty is no different. What we have is about 20 minutes of chaotic and serpentine labyrinths constructed from piles and piles of teutonic thrash riffs (think Sodom by-way-of Coroner), with all of the feral Morbid Angel-isms that Palubicki is known for.
Excellently caustic and vehement vocals and adequate bass playing from Alex Blume; maybe a minor complaint would be that his bass could have been a bit more in the mix. He’s a good player; for a better idea of his playing, check out his muscular and growly tone he gets on Ares Kingdom’s Incendiary.
A truly relentless drumming performance from Gina Ambrosio, who’s only other credit that I’m aware of was that she was slated to play on the last Angelcorpse record, before they got John Longstreth involved – however that came about. She plays extremely well for an unknown player, and I think she could more than hold her own against any drummer playing this style of death metal.
To be quite honest, I don’t understand why Gene has two different bands; the stylistic differences between Blasphemic Cruelty and Perdition Temple are minor to the point of being negligible. Maybe the key difference being that Blasphemic Cruelty is a tad more 80’s style OTT and thrashy, where Perdition Temple is more of a straightforward, hi-octane, speedy death metal, which I’ve always considered a vehicle for Gene to carry the Angelcorpse sound forward. I just think both bands are similar enough that one could absorb the other and make a very nice stew.
All that being said, these aren’t really criticisms; I’m a fan. This EP is a vicious little animal, frothing at the mouth, ready to make you dinner.
Or have you for dinner, rather.
