We’ve been closely following the unholy machinations of Under the Church since they released their first demo in 2013 (reviewed here), at first because the band included two members of the legendary Swedish death metal band Nirvana 2002 (drummer/guitarist Erik Qvick and bassist Lars Henriksson) and then because the music turned out to be so consistently good.
Last year brought the release of the band’s lethal debut album Rabid Armageddon, and now they are at work on a follow-up. But while that next release is being worked over, Under the Church are releasing a two-song single featuring the tracks “Wake the Dead” and “Confer the Vile” via Bandcamp. Today it’s our pleasure to deliver the premiere of “Confer the Vile“.
The slithering lead guitar melody that begins the song, over slowly pounding drums and spine-shivering bass notes, immediately generates a feeling of disease and decay, and vocalist MiK Annetts’ tyrannical proclamations are tremendously powerful.
And then the song becomes a rampage, with a thundering avalanche of percussion and ruthlessly hammering riffs, as Annetts‘ vocals reach new heights of towering monstrosity. It’s an electrifying change — but the song eventually returns to that pestilential graveyard melody with which it began (which then hangs around your head long after the song has ended).
There are few current practitioners of old-school death metal that are as good as Under the Church at breathing vibrant, horrifying life into this ancient and unkillable form of metal. Good to see these guys continuing to crank out such good stuff.
“Confer the Vile” features artwork by Cesar Valladares, and you can grab it right now on Bandcamp via the link below. Look for the release of “Wake the Dead” in May.
https://underthechurch.bandcamp.com/album/wake-the-dead-confer-the-vile
https://www.facebook.com/UnderTheChurch
6 Responses to “AN NCS PREMIERE: UNDER THE CHURCH — “CONFER THE VILE””
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Ah, what lovely dark and dismal moods!
Sweet, awesome as ever! \m/
Great stuff,the start reminds me a bit of Death’s Leprosy.
Aren’t you guys tired yet of this resurgence of bands with the buzzsaw guitars that all sound the same? Perhaps it is just me, but I cant get into it.
The question is did you use to get into it?
Practically, no matter what style, genre or sub-genre of metal you name, it has been done, re-rendered and recycled by 1001 similar sounding bands for close to ages. Sure, Under the Church don’t sound new, fresh and original, but it’s good nonetheless. Besides, speaking for myself, I haven’t listened to too much classic HM-2 style, hence I’m not bloody tired of it, and as mentioned, this conveys a nasty good atmosphere 🙂
Speaking only for myself, I’ll never get tired of it of this style of death metal, and I don’t think it all sounds the same, but I can understand why some people feel that way. I feel that way about a lot of thrash that’s out there.