HOUR OF PENANCE - "CAST THE FIRST STONE" (2017)

HOUR OF PENANCE - "CAST THE FIRST STONE"
(Running time: 34:05 minutes; 9 songs)
("Prosthetic Records"; 2017; CD):

Oh man, only why... I mean why the hell bloody hell did I never heard of HOUR OF PENANCE before... why?!? I think for all what I've read "CAST THE FIRST STONE", released via the mighty "PROSTHETIC RECORDS" label, is already the 7th full legth album of/by this truly outstanding Death Metal four piece thundering out of the dephts of Italy over here in good old mother Europe... and it is one larger than life manifest of damn-very strongest Death Metal, period. If my informations respectively if what I've read online is correct then the band FLESHGOD APOCALYPSE (years ago back then in 2011 I did a review up here on their then current full-length-album "AGONY" and you can still find and read it up here, of course) consists of earlier members of HOUR OF PENANCE; just in case that namedropping of this kind 'does something' for you. So, yes, here we get everything and anything demolishing sheer full-force and pure'n'brutal Death Metal with huge doses of highly rich'n'varying and highest skilled technical skills and this all delivered on a level of the highest quality grade. This is crushing and devastating and 'mercylessly' no prisoners taking harsh, ultra-heavy, and truly extreme Death Metal of the most brutal style sort of somewhere drifting between a hard as nails modern approach with still breathing a really fresh 'true and old schoolish' spirit, yes, so that fans of acts like for example MORBID ANGEL, DEICIDE, VITAL REMAINS and KRISIUN will definitely also love HOUR OF PENANCE's "CAST THE FIRST STONE" as well as fans of Modern Death Metal like for example the above mentioned FLESHGOD APOCALYPSE, yes, and also fans of Brutal Death Metal like BROKEN HOPE so as fans of really forceful Deathcore like for example WHITECHAPEL, ALL SHALL PERISH, and ABHORRENT DECIMATION will surely if not definitely also love this glorious harsh slasher. This is purest 'savagery' set to musick. This is by any means through and through real Death Metal; and Death Metal that despise its sheer brutality, violence, aggression, and force offers all the time an incredible amount of playful and soulful surprises and twists'n'turns all along the ride so that HOUR OF PENANCE's "CAST THE FIRST STONE" turns out to be one hell of an exciting and grapping journey with a truly larger than life intensity and a very tight, dense, and battle-scarred atmosphere that's interwoven into the whole album from start to finish and it all shines bright in a through'n'through militant and gladiatorial spirit. HOUR OF PENANCE's "CAST THE FIRST STONE" is definitely and massively strongest and 'highliest' marked by the absolutely outstanding and brilliant songwriting that really gives the whole album that special unique flavour to it all and it is also damn high skilled and despise the fact that the pace of 'nearly' all the songs and so mostly of the whole album is in general a damn fast one, with in its whole majority mainly focussing on harsh'n'fast raging up tempo killer tunes as well as sheer blast speeding savagery with slightly 'more silent moments' that hide on very, very well-chosen strategic positions here and there in the center of this surely and truly atomizing grim and harsh slashing storm, the album is filled to the exploding max with great exciting arrangements, fresh compositorial ideas, grapping song architectures, and highly energetic and rousing, overwhelming and demolishing riffs and rhythm structures, oh hell yeahr, so that you really need to take some intense listening sessions to get HOUR OF PENANCE's "CAST THE FIRST STONE" in its whole harsh, grim, and yet incredible beautiful glory and that you discover all of the greatness that it offers and holds in store for all of us, yes, a glorious one it is and a demanding one and this not (only) so much because it is a very, very extreme one but also because it is a challenging and multi-layered, a pretty complex one, yes, and so make sure you really give it some time to grow (on you) and so make sure that you not only enjoy its devastating extremity but also its overwhelming complexity that holds so much for all of us in store, oh yes. It's all drastically (and this for all the right, good and justified reasons) marked by the intense, incredible harsh'n'heavy, and also highest skilled and diverse'n'multilayered, sheer fantastic and outstanding guitar work with ist special own tone and that offers so much excitment and class that it will nothing but take you by storm and it will decapitate your head and then chop you in half, hell yeahr, because above all it is first'n'foremost pure and sheer savage intensity. Amazing!!! The harsh grunted'n'shouted very powerful vocals deliver the very thoughtful and thoughtprovoking and outspoken and by all means just incredible damn great lyrics with huge doses of passion and overwhelming force and I would just wish that the vocal delivery or the arrangement of the vocal lines would only here and there vary a bit more (but I honestly think it is more a 'thing' of the delivery, and not of the arrangements), then it would be perfect. The grim raging bass work and the sheer thunder'n'lightning drumming then add sheer tons of massive muscles and beefy'n'bulky meat to the loadable backbone of HOUR OF PENANCE's "CAST THE FIRST STONE", oh bloody hell yeahr, and with doing so they make it all just even more devastating and convincing. Again: Amazing; absolutely!!! To name you my personal favorites is a damn hard thing to do, yes, because this whole album is a damn masterpiece and platinum Death Metal and so you won't find only one only slightly anyhow weak(er) song on "CAST THE FIRST STONE" of/by HOUR OF PENANCE, but I think personally for me "XXI CENTURY IMPERIAL CRUSADE", "CAST THE FIRST STONE", "IRON FIST", "THE CHAINS OF MISDEED", "HORN OF FLIES", and "WALL OF COHORTS" probably stick out the (very) most. Fantastic lyrics, an absolutely awesome and top notch artwork, and a heavily bombig production sound then finally round it all up, yes, and this in all the right way and manner. So, okay, I think I've said it all what I've had to say so far right here, right now at this point, yes, and so I think I can calmly close this review with letting my final sayings here and now be my clearest recommendation for you to get this larger than life masterpiece that is the almighty "CAST THE FIRST STONE" of/by HOUR OF PENANCE and best get it instantly, yes, this is a damn amazing album, point and fact.
(9,5 of 10 points)
http://www.hourofpenance.net/ (-the link to the homepage of the band)

HOUR OF PENANCE - "XXI CENTURY IMPERIAL CRUSADE" (2017, "CAST THE FIRST STONE")