Obscurus Nex Cultus

Father Befouled is a name I have seen mentioned quite a few times in various forums and their discography is often recommended for anyone looking for some dark and cavernous death metal similar to Incantation, Demilich and so on. Based on that I checked out YT and found a video by some nerd talking about his whole album collection who made a special about the whole Father Befouled discography and the band’s backstory. Well, it turned out that this “nerd” is Justin Stubbs and Father Befouled is his band. He also mentioned that any label who might be interested in re-releasing their first full length “Obscurus Nex Cultus” should get in contact and here we are. Loic from Krucyator took this call serious and released this album with a (at least in my opinion) much better looking artwork.

Father Befouled mix brutal, raw blast beats, with slower filthily depraved sections, while also exhibiting some old school grindcore influences here and there. Due to the sheer darkness that these songs pour into the world the music can’t help but adopt a slightly blackened approach on occasion. Make no mistake; this isn’t blackened death metal as such, it’s just so bleak and ugly that it just happens to share some of the aesthetics with the blackened style. Listening to this album will give the consumer a grim and cold feeling and leave him in despair once it has finished.

The band don’t always play the blast sections at a blistering pace the way acts like e.g. Immolation use to. They have a more calculated attack - slowing down the blast sections just a tad to allow the grinding guitars room to suffocate the listener. The guitars are especially noteworthy, as they are down-tuned to unfathomable levels, and no upward fretboard movement on the lower strings remotely changes the sensation of the riffs grinding to the tune of a chainsaw to flesh. The studio production on “Obscurus Nex Cultus” is raw and murky yet perfectly fitting and this devastating effort is given the proper set-up for each instrument to uniquely deliver each of its contributions.

Justin had also taken over vocal duties and his inhuman growling style is fascinating in its intense ugliness. He is roaring like an ancient demon and his delivery is perfectly fitting the sinister and haunting overall atmosphere of this record. Krucyator made a clever move by re-releasing “Obscurus Nex Cultus” as Father Befouled are a band on the rise and their brand of death metal is highly appreciated by most fans of the genre.

This is the first album from Father Befouled, an American band playing death metal.

The production on this album is thick and murky, dripping with down-tuned guitars, sick, belched vocals, and obscure bass. The machine-drumming is this band's only weakness, and even it is not too bad: it's buried under the mix most of the time, anyway. I love the opening sample, but I could have done without the others; they seem to break the mood a bit too much.

Early Incantation is the obvious influence here -- oblique, squealing McEntee-style guitar parts trade off with fierce blasting sections and doomy breaks. Thus, this record is not all that original, but wow, is it ever convincing! The depth of the sick feeling here is really exceptional; this album is beyond nasty in sound, simply filthy as fuck. I especially like the slow parts, during which the crushing atomsphere seems to swell to mammoth proportions... "Golden Rivers Of Heaven (Baptized in Piss)" is a perfect example of this. The fast parts are also great, with recognizable riff patterns that just manage to hold your head up out of the river of blasting. Most of the tracks on this album are short and to the point, but Father Befouled can handle longer songs as well: with its molasses-like vocals and rushing cymbal-abuse, the epic closing track is the perfect ending to this record.

If you've worn the grooves off your copy of "Onward to Golgotha", this record is for you. Anyone who likes filthy death metal ought to check this out, as well. Recommended.

Standout tracks: "Idolatry of Cursed Revelation", "Golden Rivers Of Heaven (Baptized in Piss)", "Beneath the Spires of Noctural Temples / Defiling Creation"

Review by vorfeed: http://www.vorfeed.net