SHROUD OF THE HERETIC – BOILED TO DEATH MLP (Blood Harvest)

Sometime in January, Blood Harvest unleashed the 12” vinyl edition of this debut EP from American band Shroud Of The Heretic. What we have here is six tracks of guttural, chugging and at times doom-laden slow-to-mid-paced Death Metal which sounds a little like Incantation in slow motion.

The label namedrops five bands as reference points – Aethyrvorous, Cruciamentum, Encoffination, Vasaeleth and Undergang. Of these five, Encoffination is the only one I’m properly acquainted with and I do detect certain similarities, especially in spirit and tone and also the use of samples, particularly at the start of the excellent fifth track ‘Ageless Shadow’.

While I don’t think ‘Boiled To Death’ is as essential as anything the magnificent Encoffination has released to date, it is nonetheless a worthwhile record, with a generous running time (for an EP) of 35 minutes. The record is well packaged and presented, too, which is always an added bonus.

There’s no real gamble involved, either, as you can listen to the entire album / LP / MLP / EP or whatever you want to call it on the label’s Bandcamp page prior to investing. What more do you want?

Evilometer: 444/666