Perdition Temple – Merciless Upheaval
Release Date: 24th June 2022
Label: Hells Headbangers
Bandcamp
Genre: Old School Death Metal, Death Metal.
FFO: Morbid Angel, Pestilence, Troops of Doom.
Review By: Andy Spoon
Waiting almost 3 years between releases, Perdition Temple emerged in 2022 with Merciless Upheaval, a hybrid LP with 4 original tracks and 4 tributes to associated death metal acts like Pestilence and Morbid Angel. The album follows Perdition Temple’s 2020 release Sacraments of Desecration, another Hells Headbangers release. Death Metal veterans Gene Palubicki and Ron Parmer continue to make some of the most dynamically-entertaining releases, even into 2022, as Merciless Upheaval is a top-tier listen for all 34 minutes of its run time.
The guitars are chunky, chords are dissonant and expressive, while also being somewhat transparent. Whatever guitar amps and effects Guitarist Gene Palubicki is using is highly effective in communicating the musical message to the listener. Staccato strumming and constant riffing up and down the neck makes it extremely easy to love the hooks and want to headbang. Guitar leads are short and sweet, not carrying on more than 2 measures each in most cases. It’s highly effective in giving the listener that dynamic “feel” of a track without having to go into repetitive sequences that can absolutely take away from the flow.
Drummer Ron Parmer’s (Malevolent Creation) contributions are expertly-added to Merciless Upheaval with lightning fast double bass drum work, and excellent timekeeping – old school death metal style, sparingly using blast beats to make the listener appreciate when they are employed. Musical restraint is part of the skillful dynamic flow of the entire album. Further, the drum recording is excellent, the snare being hyper-present in the front of the mix. This decision allows the rhythm of the guitar to blend with the drums in a cohesive way that makes the entire presentation just a little more of an enjoyable listen than other associated acts who might not use the same mix technique.
Vocals are gritty and mature, reminiscent of Morbid Angel. I had not realized that vocalist Gene Palubicki contributed all the vocal work for this album, something that I found to be an excellent addition to the overall tone of the album. I had done a review of a sister project, Malefic Throne, earlier in 2022, where I noted that Palubicki’s vocals were the high point of the entire record, gritty and astonishingly-clear. Gene’s vocals further prove to be absolutely essential to creating the overall heaviness of any project on which he works, all the way from Angelcorpse to Blasphemic Cruelty and Malefic Throne.
One of the issues is that half of the album is covers from Morbid Angel, Pestilence, Infernal Majesty, and Shub Nigurath. There’s only 4 original songs on the LP. Each of them are shredding, merciless nastiness, but I REALLY wanted a full album of original Perdition Temple content. It really feels like This band is on their game, but with half an album of covers, I was just disappointed that I couldn’t get more original music. Listening to the original tracks alongside the covers, I personally felt that the bass guitars were more expressive on the originals, something that I would love to see on every track, as bassist Alex Blume is certainly talented enough to contribute
One thing that could give the listener some entertainment value is to play each covered track back to back with its original, just to get a really good vibe of how Perdition Temple’s own unique identity is presented on the album. Even though not original, that gives the listener something raucous to headbang to, as the mastering of Merciless Upheaval is head and shoulders above some of the tracks it covers (*cough* Pestilence *cough*). I’m super impressed with the Morbid Angel Vibes. These guys really have captured that essence of OSDM without deviating too much from the winning formula. The guitars are blistering and riff-worthy. Drums are fabulously recorded and mixed. Original tracks leave the listener wanting more; and the covers show that Perdition Temple absolutely have their collective act together. 
(4 / 5)
