Ireland’s Zealot Cult is back with album #2, Psalms of Filth. It’s been 8 years since the debut Spiritual Sickness. Jobs, families, personal health are all reasons for the delay in putting out a new album and are most of the reasons when a band takes a bit of time off. In this case, the original band members are back to kick some more ass with Declan Malone, drums; Mick Carey, guitars; Jay Quigley, guitars/vocals; and Alan Lee, bass, ready to loosen up our fillings once again. This is 10 songs in 38 minutes, done in an early 90s death metal variant ranging from Morbid Angel to Suffocation. Sign me up!!!
The intro is a short ditty of an acoustic guitar piece that is pleasant to these ears, which “Turned into Dust” then brings the death metal to the pedal. The opening riffing and sound remind me of Morbid Angel from their Covenant album, and it sounds excellent. Jay brings his strong vocal influence of Dutch death metal back into the fold with nods to Pestilence/Aspyhx. Amazing. Right before the two-minute marker, the blast takes center stage and will remind you of the blasting Mike Smith was doing on the Suffocation Breeding the Spawn album. I actually mentioned this to Mick not too long ago, and he said that’s his favorite Suffocation album; so, there ya go, folks. Around the 3.30 marker a plethora of guitar solos scorch our pants right off us and then Boom, right into the vintage Suffo blast beats. This is a super strong song with terrific guitar riffing as well as that bass guitar rearing its ugly head too.
The title track has an atmospheric blend to open things up. Alan strumming away on the bass guitar and having it isolated is just excellent. Light guitars in the background do not overpower the bass; they allow the bass to shine in the mix. Once that 1.38 marker hits, though, be prepared. Right into a monstrous blast beat, and it’s absolutely terrific as Mr. Malone shows off his drumming skills. This really takes me back to 1993, with the sound and the Suffocation influence is peak at this point, with Zealot Cult putting their own stamp of brutality on it as well. I do enjoy the band tossing in guitar solos as well, and there are plenty of those on here. You don’t hear as many guitar solos in brutal death metal anymore. I attribute this to the band being rooted in the old-school approach, and I respect that. For instance, if you have the talent to pull off a guitar solo, why not toss it in on an album?! I appreciate that sort of thing.
“Usurper” begins with this double pounding beat that is captivating in its heaviness and catchiness. The song soon goes into the full-velocity blasting hemisphere and does a good job of rearranging your jaw for ya. This is one catchy song!! Excellent guitar harmonies and vocals help this song reach top-shelf status. “Nothing But Hate” is the longest song at close to six and a half minutes. Starting with a blast and then slows down with some spoken-word moments, while the drum rolls are going on in the background. Pretty cool. The mid-paced moments are super heavy, and I caught a pinch harmonic or two. The song ends fairly brutally, and then a soft acoustic piece ends the album, just as it began.
Psalms of Filth is one of the purest death metal albums to be released in 2026. It takes the old and mixes it in with the new. After being away for so long, this is the album Zealot Cult needed to release to remain relevant in the scene. This is brutal, catchy, classic, and all-rounded out in a nice warm production. You can tell a lot of effort went into writing and recording this album. Killer release!
