apanthropy

Brodequin
Harbinger of Woe
Season of Mist Underground Activists
Released: 3/22/24

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1 – Diabolical Edict
2 – Fall of the Leaf
3 – Theresiana
4 – Of Pillars and Trees
5 – Tenaillement
6 – Maleficium
7 – VII Nails
8 – Vredens dag
9 – Suffocation in Ash
10 – Harbinger of Woe
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How do you write about an entity like Brodequin? How do you describe a tsunami with words? What do we possess in our language that can describe the incredibly destructive? Having formed in 1998, the unit has produced four full-lengths, two EPs, and two splits, all consisting of monochromatic hammering brutal death metal.

Harbinger of Woe serves as the band’s fourth full-length release and sees a Brodequin shirking the grainy, minimalist production of its earlier releases and wrapping itself in a modernized warm production. This cuts down on some of the raw carnal energy the band produced on records such as Instruments of Torture and Festival of Death but brings forth a new malignant energy in the form of an ultra-clean mix, with widely spaced instrumentation playing at saturating break-neck speed and a pronounced clarity which features a crushing low-end presence.

Twenty-six years into their career, Brodequin – undoubtably one of the heaviest bands in the American scene – have not let up in the slightest. Harbinger of Woe carries the torch ignited by the band’s guttural and violent early works and delivers in traditional fashion another record full of full-frontal blastbeat-intense brutal death metal. This is a band that has stood their ground and has not backed down an inch in terms of audio brutality.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/yh7awqeuZJQ?si=WPY8NauWppf8dZ10

Attempting to break the songs down to their base components would take entirely too much time. From a sense of perspective, Harbinger of Woe represents a metaphorical natural disaster of a record. One can write about it, but the capacity of its destructive nature cannot be truly rendered unless experienced. Fans of Disgorge and old Deeds of Flesh will have much to revel in.

Tracks such as ‘Tenaillement,’ strike with suffocating fury right from the start, quick forays into palm-muted chugging and half-time slamming help amplify the damage, technicality without gamey showmanship, manic speed but always in control and in time.

‘Maleficium’ spasms and lurches like Blasphemy Made Flesh-era Cryptopsy, while ‘Suffocation in Ash’ are more direct visceral blastbeating brutal death metal. ‘Theresiana’ rolls like a hulking battlefield tank, vocalist Jamie Bailey laying down disgustingly low guttural vomits.

‘Of Pillars and Trees’ is a pure vulgar display of percussion mass death with Brennan Shackelford firing off like a machine gun. Guitarist Mike Bailey, on his own, delivered a tight, varied, technically proficient surgical demonstration of riff crafting.

This is one of the best death metal albums of the year. Period. There’s not much more that needs to be said. Its primitive information delivered through torturous means. It’s sonic overload. It’s the amplified cruelty of ancient man brought back to life.

Label: Season of Mist Underground Activists
Band: Brodequin

-AJK