“From Birmingham with a sickfuck mind.”
The rejuvenation of Myspace deathcore is by now a well versed topic. A well-settled sentiment, outside of those who lurk in react Youtubers comment sections, is that the genre’s return to its roots puts it in a much better place than the djent-y tech-death abomination it had become in the previous decade. It’s sound has began to, or even reached, the forefront of the genre’s consciousness at this point. The now ever-popular PSYCHO-FRAME have supported Knocked Loose and will soon to bring their sound to other side of the Atlantic, along with a full-length LP on the way. With plenty of smaller acts building the foundations, hopefully ensuring the revival isn’t a one-off.
The latest act to come swinging into what could be a golden age for the genre are Killing of a Sacred Deer. Setting their mark with more than impressive debut single “Devotion”, featuring Jess Nyx, which more than caught the attention with their blend of deathcore and metallic hardcore. Comprised of the duo Colter (Serration, World Of Pleasure & Mortality Rate) and Jordan (Secret & Whisper), with Colter spearheading the writing and production, while Jordan handled mixing the self-titled record. The recording took place inside Colter’s apartment, his girlfriend’s garage and Jordan’s studio, before heading out over to the well-respected Digital Ghost Audio for mixing and mastering. With all that, it’s little surprise that what the duo have put together under the banner of Killing of a Sacred Deer is nothing short of sublime.
There will be very few prizes for guessing how Killing of a Sacred Deer opens on “Scarlett Halo”. A snare that bounces and pops, riffs that will take your ear off, led by barking vocals that are absolutely feral. Offering up the first of many downtuned breakdowns that spin kickers will tear a ligament too, along with a nasty feature from Connor of Guitless, the opener blasts the record awake in quick fashion.
The first highlight comes with “25.4mm from Death”, engaging in murderous blast beats and blend of chugging riffs and pitched harmonics. It’s an gnarly track even before the minute mark has set in. The record’s second feature sees Frazer Cassling of Cauldron (the good UK one) indulge in feral fry vocal style of bygone Cauldron records, and that one they also return to on “The Last Words II: Seasons in the Dark” on the latest The Coming Strife compilation. Screaming out lyrics “Fucked in the face by barbed sledgehammer, beaten to an inch of your life” and “You divs get your heads split”, adding a nice edge and spice to the track, before the dual vocals of Cassling and Colter trade on “It’s too easy to take the light from your eyes”, seeing the track out.
The viciousness continues with “Mangled Flesh Cathedral” which just slams its way through its near two minute run time. Fitting in a breakdown that is packed with double kicks and chugging riffs – if it ever sees a live setting, it will probably blacken a few eyes. Interlude “Dried Flowers Bathed in Viscera” gives the mood of Killing of a Sacred Deer a chance to spread, leaning into an unsettling and harrowing nature, as opposed to the animalistic one of its aforementioned genre counterparts in PSYCHO-FRAME.
“Heaven Progenitor” opens with one of the more on the nose references with “Destruction, the joy of rebirth” before letting their maddening sound envelope the ears once again. “A fear for the flesh” throws in the first of neat Silent Hill references, before closing out on Mary’s Letter quote “I can’t tell you to remember me, but I can’t bear you to forget me”. One of the more metallic tracks on the record, it’s also seemingly one of the more introspective ones too, moving away from the sheer rage of earlier tracks of “25.4mm from Death”.
Lead single “Devotion” sees itself as the last full track of the self-titled effort. Many of the elements returning into a triumphant fashion, whether it’s the pitched harmonics and pump-shotgun double kicks. The feature of Jess Nyx and her pissed off vocal style fits in succinctly here, the trading of vocals here is done perfectly once again. Closing out on a extra downtuned breakdown, that seems akin to a deathcore version of Vatican’s “NU.M.B.”, gives a bludgeoning end to “Devotion”. Fully instrumental closer “Intro”, bleeds out the record in a mean fashion while also again giving that haunting atmospheric touch.
While not wanting to sound too cheesy, it feels special for a project such as this to seemingly emerge out of the blue and be so impressive, especially in our age of overindulgence of information. Killing of a Sacred Deer have simply pieced together a record quietly behind the scenes and absolutely smashed it upon release. Each feature here has a purpose and isn’t wasted, bringing out the best of Nyx and also seeing the likes of Cassling putting on a stellar performance. While matching their contemporaries in the genre in terms of performance, Killing of a Sacred Deer have put their own haunted and harrowing twist on the genre, that sees it as one of the finest deathcore records in recent memory.
9.5/10
Killing of a Sacred Deer is set to release September 6th, with pre-orders going live on Wax Vessel at 1pm CST the same day.