Just when you thought the 2020 will start without any significant head turners in our metal realm, in comes Deadspawn tearing through your pitiful life with boundless brutality, power and near-perfect blackened death/deathened black, and creativity not heard since Revocation’s "The Outer Ones", with bleak lyricism, perfect sound, yet strangely leaving you filled with hope and perseverance for such a dark band.

Born in Flagstaff, Arizona, in 2009, by guitarist/vocalist Curt Durocher and drummer Brian Miller, the equally death as black ensemble debuted with "This Ascension" EP (2013) followed by "The Source Of Chaos" EP (2015), which led to this, their debut full length. Today featuring the aforementioned Curt Durocher, Ryan Roubison (guitars, vocals), Derrek Page (bass, vocals) and Ryan Frech (drums) the album is a 10-track affair. Owing as much to latter Revocation as to Behemoth, Hideous Divinity and Hate Eternal or latter Death, to list just the most notable ones, "Pestilence Reborn" is a magnifiscent, flawlessly produced and executed, display of power, brutality, skilled and intricate yet incredibly catchy musicianship and, but of course, Howard Phillips Lovecraft-ian horrific lyricism, all of which makes them very similar to Revocation, especially their most recent work, not that it’s a bad thing.

Just one listen of the favorite Ulcerate meets ancient Machine Head-ian "Ex Infernis" will make you look for their prior albums thinking this could not possibly be a debut, while the Morbid Angel’s "Gateway To Annihilation" – inspired title track, the slightly Opeth-ian progressive "From Ruins", Immolation-ary "Shaitan" and the Emperor-ic closer "The Plague Within" will have an added benefit of causing you to stop missing Slayer, present OR past. Durocher’s growly vocals are an interesting and well-fitted blend of David Davidson (Revocation), Adam "Nergal" Darski (Behemoth) and Enrico "Hater" Di Lorenzo (Hideous Divinity) and I can’t imagine a better vocal match, especially with some of the riffing surprisingly recalling some of the hard core stylings of Diecast’s "Day Of Reckoning" (Language Of Creation) but when it’s this fantastic and catchy who cares? And play this stuff, if you please, when you are hopeless or depressed or exhausted with the business of living – it will power you up better than Monster TM energy drink!

I’m supposed to list some flaws since the record is near-perfect, but they are mild given the magnifiscence of the material. I mean are the opening Monstrosity-ic/ZAO-ic "Warpath" (with that groovy riff), the melodic Behemoth-ian "Communion", the classic Sepultura-ic "Language Of Creation", the flagrantly latter Death-ly "This Ascension", and the Hate Eternal-sounding "Limits Of Flesh" bad tracks? Far from it! They just don’t seem to be as intricate and as complex as the aforementioned standouts, as excellent as they are. Ok, so the admittedly almost constant brutality, as catchy as it is, can get tiring and samey-sounding even after few spins, but this is death and black and I am sure they will work on that on a sequel.

"Pestilence Reborn" really caught me by surprise in terms of musicianship, catchiness, creativity, performance, the production, and, you know, the fact that is is a debut, already at this level of both efficiency and proficiency! If you like albums such as Revocation’s "The Outer Ones", Hideous Divinity’s "Adveniens", Hate Eternal’s "Fury And Flames" or Krisiun’s "Southern Storm", this is your new go-to-work soundtrack.

https://deadspawn.bandcamp.com/