I rather enjoyed the 2017 debut, Flesh Hammer Prophecy, from this German Dismember-loving band. However, I somehow completely missed the 2019 follow-up, The Harvest, (which has since been rectified) where the band made the jump from FDA Records to Metal Blade, much like Entrails, and have now unleashed album number 3.

From the opening strains of opener “Unholy Rites”, which is clearly an unabashed ode to both “Of Fire” from Dismember’s Death Metal and “Patrol 17 from the Hate Campaign album, you know what you are once again getting with Mount Carcass; Pure Dismember worship. And that’s fine. It s very well done, and certainly, with Dismember on hiatus, there is a void for that sound, and while many bands are vying for the title like Demonical, Lik, Frostvore, Massive Assault, Iron Flesh, and such, Endseeker is certainly in the conversation, especially with 3 quality offerings under their belt.

Culling heavily from the more groove-based Massive Killing Capacity (just check out “Merciless Tide”, “Bloodline”  “Count the Dead” and “Cult”) and Dismember’s 2000 and beyond, more melodic sound (“Unholy Rites”, “Mount Carcass”, Frantic Redemption”) the delivery is simple, effective, and energetic. It’s not groundbreaking, the HM2 sound isn’t overbearing or overdone like some of their US counterparts (I’m looking at you Gatecreeper and Fuming Mouth), it’s got just the right amount of buzz and heft, and the songs don’t do anything too adventurous. And as you can tell from the video above, the band set out to do all this, while having a bit of fun and not taking themselves too seriously.

As with the debut, where the band covered Bolt Thrower‘s “Powder Burns”, or The Harvest‘s cover of Megadeth’s “Symphony of Destruction”, there is a cover song at the end of the album. Here it’s a slightly different one, as it’s the band’s take on John Carpenter’s theme from Escape From New York (fun, true fact; I recorded the theme from the TV onto a cassette and listened to it on my walkman as a kid). It’s an interesting, different endnote to an other wise, predictably enjoyable album.

[Visit the band's website]

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