HIDEOUS DIVINITY: “SINISTER AND DEMENTED”

The Font of All Human Knowledge tells us that the phrase “slash and burn” originated as the name for an ancient agricultural technique that involves cutting trees and other natural growth and then burning them to ash, once dried, in order to create fields for new growth. That phrase springs to mind immediately upon hearing “Sinister and Demented”, the new song by Italy’s Hideous Divinity that premiered not long ago. It appears on their forthcoming album Cobra Verde.

The song is an assault of high-speed sonic decimation. It threshes, it thrashes, and then it burns in a super-heated conflagration. But so complete is the devastation that it’s hard to imagine that anything will grow from the scorched ground it leaves behind.

Everything in the song is geared toward jolting the listener with galvanizing power — from the blazing fretwork to the jaw-dropping drumwork to the ravaging vocals (which sound more like a pack of wolves than a single human). Simply from the perspective of technical proficiency, this is technical death metal of a very high order.

 

 

Yet for all its borderline-inhuman proficiency and its success in summoning images of savage destructiveness, its exotic melodies are also strangely addictive and its pummeling rhythms are almost physically compelling — particularly in the repeating riff-and-drum barrage that consumes the song’s final minute.  In a nutshell, the song is strikingly good — and you can listen to it below.

There are more good things to anticipate from the album. It includes, for example, a guest vocal appearance by Dallas Toler-Wade of Nile and Narcotic Wasteland. And speaking of Dallas Toler-Wade, he had this to say about Cobra Verde:

“it was awesome to get a chance to do some guest vocals on the record. HD is one of the most brutal bands out right now, and it’s an honor to be a part of that brutality.”

Cobra Verde is also intriguing because it’s a concept record inspired by the 1987 German film of the same name directed by Werner Herzog and starring Klaus Kinski in his final collaboration with Herzog before his death. The album also includes a cover of “Last and Only Son” by Ripping Corpse (from their 1992 EP Industry). Here’s the track list:

Track list:

01. In My Land I Was A Snake
02. The Somber Empire
03. Cobra Verde
04. Salt In The Martyr’s Tear
05. Sinister and Demented
06. Desolation Within
07. The Alonest of the Alone (featuring NILE’s Dallas Toler-Wade on vocals)
08. Adijnakou
09. The Last and Only Son (originally written by RIPPING CORPSE)

Cobra Verde will be released by Unique Leader on October 28 in the U.S., on October 27 in the US, and on October 31 in Europe. The album can be pre-ordered here:

http://hideousdivinity.bigcartel.com/

This is a link to the Hideous Divinity Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/hideousdivinity

And finally, it’s time to slash and burn…