ANGELCORPSE — Hammer of Gods (review)

ANGELCORPSE — Hammer of Gods album cover Album · 1996 · Death Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
UMUR
"Hammer of Gods" is the debut full-length studio album by US blackened death metal act Angelcorpse. The album was released through Osmose productions in August 1996. The original album features 9 tracks while the 1999 re-released Jim Morris remastered version adds 2 bonus tracks recorded during the "Wolflust" sessions in April 1997. The bonus tracks are cover versions of "Burning in Hell" by Possessed and "Pleasure to Kill" by Kreator.

The music on the album is brutal, fast-paced, and fiercely aggressive blasphemous themed death metal. The first couple of albums by Morbid Angel are the most obvious references. Due in large part to the absolutely caustic vocal delivery by Pete Helmkamp, Angelcorpse are more out and out aggressive than Morbid Angel though. He is one of those rabid dog sneering blasphemous vocalists that are sure to raise fear in the Bible Belt. His attitude and caustic delivery are incredibly aggressive and hateful. All tracks feature high quality blackened death metal and the only issue I can think of is that they sound a bit too much the same. However As with most good death metal albums the hooks and catchy phrases begin to surface after a couple of listens.

The musicianship on the album are on a high level. There are some furious and really tight playing going on here. Of course that´s no surprise if you are familiar with some of the other acts the members, and especially drummer John Longstreth, have been involved in. Longstreth has been involved in acts like Origin, Dim Mak, Gorguts and Skinless, and that should speak louder than words. He keeps the relentlessly fast-paced music together and drives it forward but the rest of the band are also very well playing. Guitarists Bill Taylor and Gene Palubicki deliver fast-paced riffing and atonal screaming solos throughout the album like there´s no tomorrow. Pete Helmkamp´s vocal qualities have already been discussed above, but it should be mentioned that he is a capable bassist too.

The sound production is raw and powerful on the 1999 remaster (not too clean) but I seem to remember that the original version sounded quite a bit more murky. Overall "Hammer of Gods" is a high quality blackened death metal release and a debut album that Angelcorpse can rightfully be proud of. It may not be the most original sounding release but it´s intense and delivers the goods all the way through it´s 38:08 minutes long playing time. A 4 star (80%) rating is deserved.
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UMUR wrote:
more than 2 years ago
I know I´ve posted this one before, but there were two Angelcorpse entries and the one we deleted was the one with my original review, so I had to post it again in the remaining entry.

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