The dudes behind California death metal upstarts Our Place of Worship Is Silence are salty as fuck. There's simply no way for a group of individuals—even ones with such robust underground metal credentials as these four—to have hewn such a hateful, rabid, manic album without really fucking meaning it. Aptly titled The Embodiment of Hate, the LA band's debut follows a 2015 demo, and is due out in via Broken Limbs Recordings on October 14.Its members-of tags are pretty impressive, populated by current and former members of Knelt Rote, L'Acephale, Lake of Blood, and Teeth, and the album itself is dedicated to the memory of late bassist Tim Butcher, who passed away in 2015. Through the course of its seven songs (including—speaking of hate— a cover of Clandestine Blaze's "Church of Atrocity"), OPoWIS hop from big, ugly punk beats(see "Resplendent Misery") into fat, yawning death metal riffs and hideous grooves, heavy on bass and that buzzing metal of death churn we know and love. The booming, ragged vocals ride high in the mix, echoing into a self-created void and jostling with the breakneck drums for dominance over the proceedings. It's raw, nasty stuff that slams the old school death metal trope into a slab of bestial black/death, adds grime, slips in a few wildcards, and slits its throat.According to drummer Tim Gaskin, "The Embodiment of Hate is the necessary proclamation of our unrivaled ferocity and authenticity. With elements of pessimism and cosmic annihilation, this record throws salt into the wounds of all saviors."Listen below, and don't say I didn't warn you.
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Kim Kelly is feeling murderous on Twitter.