Texas has quite a nice death metal scene.  With Devourment, Kill Everything,   and many others…but don’t forget about Prophecy.  With Foreseen Scriptures as their 5th album, being newly released I would love to see them do some major touring, because this album destroys from beginning to end.  You want pure brutal American blood-flowing death metal-well then you’ve come to the right descriptive review.

Prophecy have been around since 1991 and they play a no frills type of brutal death metal, rooted in the 90’s era with some NY style death metal moments mixed in with Texas tumbleweed brutality.  Their last album The Beginning, from 2016 had some monstrous riffs and it’s a great album, however the production was thin in the guitar area and did not punch me in the gut as much as the 2012, Don’t Fuckin’ Mess with Texas album did, which had monstrous songs equipped with a chest-collapsing production and let’s just get right into Foreseen Scriptures.  The title track cracks open a can of Stone Cold Steve Austin whoop ass after a brief intro build-up and the production is a very clean production.  I would say it’s somewhere between the above albums.  The 1.46 part starts with the isolated guitar and then a nice “ Here we Go” growled and the slam is jumpy and catchy and christ almighty those little squealing harmonics are enough to pick up a live pig and immediately turn it into bacon.

Drew Duffy is the main vocalist, but James Parks II, who is the guitarist, will lend some growls, as well as Trevor Scott-drums.  Charlie Porter also plays guitar and he and James have some massive riffs.  Allen Culmo has some great bass tones.  Anyway the song meanders a bit and then the 3.50 part, with the guttural growl and guitar slide, which goes right into a slow Texas style beatdown part is so damn killer and the vomitous vocals are spewing all sorts of nasties everywhere.  “Infinite Deception” features some awesome vocals, raging double bass with some stop n go parts, slow and fast blasting sections that will slaughter just about anything in its unlucky path.  “Redemption” also with the thunderous and ridiculous double bass and the band adds a little bit of an atmospheric part which shines.

Ok, I recently hinted on social media this review would debut something I am coining Anatomy of a Song.  On certain reviews, going forward, I will dedicate an entire section to the best song on the album, which is worthy of this special part.  So let’s get on with it…  Anatomy of a Song goes to…. “Buried in Brimstone”, which is one of the best songs Prophecy has written-it is the best song on “Foreseen Scriptures” and must be featured in their live set.  So it’s rare the Holy Shit moment begins immediately in a song, but here we have a little cymbal tap and the awesome line growl isolated “Try to breathe when you’re Buried in Brimstone” then holy fuck one of the best death metal riffs created in the last decade, maybe 15 years.  Christ almighty.  Once this hits if there is anyone standing than they are mannequins.  I started throwing my haymaker slam fists, as people have witnessed, when I sing live and I actually mimic this part as if I was singing it and add my fist pounding and slams as I sing along to the song.  This riff is beyond godly!  The undercurrent of the bass guitar heaviness adds just the right amount of bottom end and the entire rhythm part is top shelf.  The song shifts gears to a brutal blasting section then the awesome opening riff comes in with the 1.15 slam, this time over increased guttural vocals and vicious double bass that collapsed chest cavities from here to Nepal.  Then we are treated to some nice guitar riffing with just the right amount of melody, then a nice mid-paced section with brutal, yet understandable vocal patterns.  Some awesome drum fills and a real cool jumpiness to the song before the guitar solo, with some more atmosphere surrounding it, and then the ripping double bass.  Of course this then blasts right into that awesome guitar riff with clogged sewer-pipe styled vocals, brutal and fast double bass, heavy bass and the most fitting drum pattern.  At 5.57 the song packs the quality along with the quantity.  This main guitar riff, as stated earlier, for “Buried in Brimstone”, is monstrously ferocious, catchy, and most of all causes bodies to explode within a quarter inch of getting close to it.  Simply put, one of the best death metal songs I’ve heard in a long time!

Well I hope you enjoyed my Anatomy of a Song section and Foreseen Scriptures, by Prophecy, is one of the best releases for 2019.  All the songs slay, the production is crisp and heavy and everything is audible and overall the album is mixed quite excellently.  The booklet layout is exceptionally laid out, just like the prior albums.  Lyrics and the cd tray features the picture collage, which Prophecy likes doing on their releases.  I think it’s because James wants to show off how many times he’s wearing a Prophecy shirt.

The album cover is striking and Foreseen Scriptures is the strongest album to date for Prophecy.  From start to finish Foreseen Scriptures destroys.  Go and like their page, see them live and buy all their releases and shirts.  They make awesome and great quality merch, folks.  I don’t know about you, but I’m spinning “Buried in Brimstone” again.  Great brutal death metal album-Buy or Die!

[Visit the band's website]

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