Believe it or not, deathcore is having a pretty good year in 2019: Enterprise Earth, When Plagues Collide, Ingested, Angelmaker, Organectomy (though arguably more slam) have dropped solid releases and once genre kings Whitechapel, delivered a return to form with powerfully introspective The Valley, with Carnifex, Shadow of Intent and Thy Art is Murder still to come.

In the mix is the debut full length from Brand of Sacrifice, who got deathcore fans excited with last year’s The Interstice EP, and on God Hand deliver a eclectic take on deathcore with an array of programming, synths, atmospherics and other adventurous elements added to some pretty impressive, thunderous deathcore.

Now, we aren’t talking Arsonists Get All The Girls levels of programming silliness, but certainly in the same ballpark, (maybe also Born of Osiris?) with lots of squeaks and squawks amid the riffage, but never quite as quirky and dealing with more serious themes. After lovely atmospheric opener “Begin”, we get treated to 7 short sharp songs and two interludes of top notch deathcore. Vocalist Kyle Anderson has the requisite deep inhaled growl and screams, and the balance between blasts, squeals and breakdowns is perfect, and when they do drop a deathcore breakdown, its usually pretty good as heard on early tracks “Divinity” and Born of Osiris-like “Fortress” and “The Branded” show. But as the album goes on, you can hear that the band has a sneaky good song writing ability. With tracks like “Charlotte” and “Claw Marks” (first use of a Sitar in Deahore?) and “Beast of Darkness”  as well as two interludes “Hill of Swords” and “After Image” , Brand of Sacrifice show they are a little more than just blasts and breakdowns.

While Brand of Sacrifice might be one of the more promising new young Deathcore acts, I’m sure Unique Leader’s brutal/tech death fanbase is a little alarmed at the recent releases that take a a more core direction ( this, Distant, Bound In Fear). But fear not , the Disentomb album, The Decaying Light, is an absolute monster death metal album and will more than make up for it.

[Visit the band's website]

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