“The moon illuminates the flesh of my prey.”
If you’re reading this, we’ll spare you the historical premise of why revival deathcore bands have been increasingly making the rounds in recent years. Anyone who has ever had a LimeWire or Myspace account knows what it’s all about. Furthermore, there’s an even higher likelihood you heard Killing of a Sacred Deer’s debut EP and are seething for another vile serving from lone wolf instrumentalist and vocalist Colter Adams. Killing of a Sacred Deer’s inception exposed every primordial facet of old-school deathcore that had long been dormant under the permafrost of contemporary genre ideals, albeit with a strong hint of hardcore. Whether it’s by way of Adams joining overlords PSYCHO-FRAME or a seemingly incurable affliction for favoring pure stomp-your-guts-out deathcore (perhaps both equally likely), A Visage of a Mangled Body fully maneuvers into grassroots sensibilities in place of external influences. The result is as crushing as Killing of a Sacred Deer’s previous work, even if A Visage of a Mangled Body is a somewhat lessened genre palette.
The revival space’s apparent affinity for Bloodborne has become rather noticeable as of late. In some ways, maybe Bloodborne deathcore could stand to be an established moniker given its continued association with the swath of resurgent bands flooding the scene. A Visage of a Mangled Body embodies this aforementioned characterization beyond superficially utilizing direct Bloodborne samples on songs “Maria” and “Annalise”. Rather, both aesthetically and atmospherically, the bane of many FromSoftware proponents’ existence is spread throughout every aspect of Killing of a Sacred Deer’s latest venture. For chronically online deathcore gamer bro elitists, this is a deodorant-devoid fever dream. But even if you’re normal, it’s undeniably refreshing to hear the blistering riffs and demonic guttural vocals of Adams reverberate on a passion-driven concept project.
It’s fair to assume that anyone who listens to Killing of a Sacred Deer also indulges in plenty of PSYCHO-FRAME’s material. With PSYCHO-FRAME being perpetually busy on their entire discography, their constant technicality may be overwhelming to some. This is where A Visage of a Mangled Body and Killing of a Sacred Deer as a middleman, compensate immensely well. The clear-cut influence of Adams’ adjacency with PSYCHO-FRAME is still nonetheless omnipresent on A Visage of a Mangled Body, but to a degree that likely won’t risk overloading the consumable capacity of more casual listeners. A Visage of a Mangled Body has a focused intent of providing lethal deathcore in transient bursts. Tracks such as “A Killing Prayer” and “An Umbral Offering” supply a kitchen sink of brooding blast beats and breakdowns in rapid pace. Coinciding with the foreboding ambience of its Souls-based inspirational counterpart, the raw riff work on A Visage of a Mangled Body is just as gnawingly evil as the mystique of Central Yharnam.
“Deathcore isn’t scary anymore” has been shouted from the scene’s rafters for awhile now. It’s a completely valid statement. Absence of crime and horror sampling aside, the sheer instrumental prowess of most modern groups never seems to live up to the fear-inducing snuff that was once plethoric. Killing of a Sacred Deer are anomalous in that regard. Whether it’s the uninvitingly dark premonition conceptualized in “Dried Flowers Bathed in Amniotic Fluid” through melancholic instrumentals or the sadism-laced pinch harmonics of “Scourge of Terror” and “God’s Not Here”, Colter Adams is ridiculously affluent in his ability to scare the ever-living shit out of us.
Aside from mixing, production, and the rest of the engineering shebang, it feels pertinent to reiterate that Killing of a Sacred Deer is a one-man maniacal music machine. When hearing the likes of “Amelia” and “Outro (Intro 2)” and realizing (or remembering) that it’s solely Colter Adams behind the audible curtain, it’s irrefutable that Killing of a Sacred Deer possesses a unique separator from most acts that reinforces just how impressive their first two artistic iterations have been. Writing and tracking music as a single creative mind deserves its flowers. Thus far, Adams has more than warranted that acclamation.
A Visage of a Mangled Body is as formidable as a debut deathcore record can be. Combined with the ever-wistful underpinnings of Myspace sound and Bloodborne as an inspirational backdrop, Killing of a Sacred Deer keep the spirit of progenitive deathcore alive and well without gambling on the possibility of oversaturating their method of sonic delivery. There is beauty in simplicity and Killing of a Sacred Deer have once again formulated a pristinely mangled concoction by sticking to their fundamental guns.
8/10
A Visage of a Mangled Body has been released as of today, June 27, through Wax Vessel and can be pre-ordered here.