Review SENTIENT HORROR ‘Rites of Gore’

When Sentient Horror launched their second album ‘Morbid Realms’ in 2019 it was apparent that these guys inhale pure heavy metal with every breath they take. Sentient Horror is a New Jersey-based death metal band that started in 2014 and has with ‘Rites of Gore’ their third longplayer in the starting blocks. Connected to a genre that doesn’t offer the huge space for development, Sentient Horror take another road.

The quartet is inspired by Swedish death metal the Stockholm-style. Bands like Dismember and Entombed are no strangers to the US quartet, who builds their songs on these roots. With having such a musical imprint, Matt Moliti and his three bandmates recorded nine songs that are a blast. More direct and composed to the point than what fans got offered on the latest record, each of the tracks unfolds a morbid beauty right away. A throbbing rhythm, heavily downtuned guitars and deep growls is what each of the songs brings to the plate. It feels like the guys using the album as an outlet for a lot of emotions that arose during the pandemic. Anger, frustration, and a pessimistic feeling is what is woven into these smashing death metal tracks and fuel them with extra power.

Although being old school, the sound of ‘Rites of Gore’ doesn’t sound old. In contrary. This album benefits a lot of a dynamic and powerful sound that adds some extra power to the total. Songs like the stellar ‘Splitting Skulls’ are massive neck-breakers and a delight for each death metal fans. The good thing is, the track isn’t an exception. Each of these nine songs pumps a lot of iron and is a challenge for amplifier and speakers.

‘Rites of Gore’ is a great album and shows a band whose development is still ongoing. The sophomore album was already a great one and record number three is the next step on a journey that just started. Galloping harsh tracks and mammoth riffpower is what makes ‘Rites of Gore’ to a sinister and strong longplayer that has the potential for the a top 10 year poll ranking in the death metal category.