Regicide

Without a doubt, Hour of Penance delivered on this album. Definitely pick up this album and you will not be dissapointed! It's an easy candidate for album of the year in the metal genre. Vocals/guitars/drums are brutal as usual with this band. Every song on the album is good and there is good diversity between songs even though they are all brutal. I would say this is Hour of Penance's best album yet.I'm usually not a huge fan of solos but the highlight of the album has to be the solo on track #4 (Resurgence of the Empire) from 2:30 to 2:45. If you aren't head banging or playing air guitar during this part of the song... you should probably get checked up because there might be something wrong with you.This album by Hour of Penance is Death Metal at its finest.

Nectar

overwhelming, tight and impassioned, but not quite as engaging as previous albums

You're kidding, right? Hour of Penance does need no introduction. Highly anticipated and thoroughly fulfilled. Just run and get it and get run over by it. Top notch production.

Brutal sound, awesomely heavy. Mostly I wanted to write this review to offset the silly 1-star review by Massacre. But the album is awesome regardless - recommended!

This is an awesome cd. These guys bring the savage goods

Good and fast service , item was as described

Six years ago, Italian brutal/technical death metal collective Hour Of Penance began lighting a little bit of a fire under listeners' *sses with a good debut in 2008's "The Vile Conception." And now, midway through the next decade, the band has again returned to pour some diesel on that flame with another very satisfying (and this time realized) effort in 2014's "Regicide."True, Hour Of Penance can never claim to be the most original band out there, but they really, really know how to rock. And really friggin' hard, too! Simply tearing their way all throughout these eleven tracks and forty minutes, they blast out brutal, no-holds-barred death metal (clearly influenced by the Floridian DM scene) at grinding speeds, producing intensity levels that remain in the red, no matter how low the listener keeps the volume."Through The Triumphal Arch" sets the stage well, if in a misleadingly melodic kind of way, as it is a creepy and ambient little intro piece that flows into "Reforging The Crowns," which is a better representation of the album as a whole. It launches the listener into an uncompromising onslaught of blistering tremolo picking, "rat-tat-tat" machine gunning blast beats, and Deicide-al vocals. And this song is also of note for its use of a very decent and surprisingly melodic guitar solo, too. Of the latter half of the record, it is a cut like "The Seas Of Light," a satiating riff-fest, that seems to stand out and be the most memorable. It puts on a virtual symphony of riffage, including chugging riffs, thundering riffs, groovy ones, thrashy ones, and chainsaw-fast ones. And it is all anchored by taught, stop-start deathgrind blasts.But there certainly are other highlights, too. Take, for instance, a ripper like "Desecrated Souls," for one example of such. It is another inexorable death-metal jaunt, and a riff/growl/blast fest that is filled to the brim with jackhammering percussion that serves as an anchor to ferocious yet groovy guitar leads and full-bodied death metal bellowing. A couple of ripping solos crop up, here, as well. And "Resurgance Of The Empire," a biting, buzzsaw-riff and pummeling drum blast-backed sprint with menacing growls, and the occasional thunderous breakdown, is another. Of course, this tune is also of note for dropping in a little vocal variation into the mix, as the occasional shriek is also included, here.The title track completely decapitates the listener, playing like a suffocating aural rush of insane gravity blasts, bone-crunching guitars, and skull-rattling rhythms that simply overwhelms the listener. And for two other recommended tracks, also make sure to check out "The Sun Worship," the early Suffocation-worthy closer, "Theogony." The former of these two standdouts motors you over with its relentlessly pummeling, machine-gun-fast-blasting, careening guitar leads, and high/low vocal patterns that are memorable without ever coming across sounding like Black Dahlia Murder worship.But it has got to be the album's centerpiece, "Sealed Into Ecstasy," that takes the cake for being the highpoint of the set. Thanks to its abundant use of groovy riffing, memorable vocal patterns (in a very Glenn Benton-esque move, vocalist Paolo Pieri's shrieks of "Burn our mind -- unrestricted" in the choruses are prefaced by growls of "Burn alive this fake reflection" in the pre-choruses) and rhythmic, staccato grooves, "Sealed Into Ecstasy" is made into an extremely memorable and infectious anthem. Heck, one might even venture to say it is about as catchy a death metal tune as you're ever going to find!Hour Of Penance are still not the best at peddling individually-identifiable songs with memorable, accessible hooks; but not all of that matters, because they are nevertheless still an upper-tier death metal import. And it might prove that H.O.P. are still lacking originality, but they do utilize just enough, if not innovation, then at least musical growth (i.e. the inclusion of guitar solos and occasionally audible bass lines) to make this release mark a definite step forward for the band.

So heavy

As good as it gets!! Hour of Penance have outdone themselves again - brutal album with non-stop brutality!!

心地の良いアグレッシヴさが堪らないです。前作より少しだけテクニカルな感じがしますが、それもまた良し。それにしても16th Cellar Studioの作品は、本当にいい音してますね。ギタリストとしてのステファノ・モラビトさんは少し残念なライブパフォーマンスでしたが、スタジオエンジニアとしては間違いなくトップクラスだということを改めて認識しました。

Das Album ist ganz gut, aber bitte nicht zur LP greifen, jedenfalls nicht hier. Die LP kommt grundsaetzlich in mangelhaftem Zustand an, stark verkratzt und scheinbar mit Styporfetzen in der Spurrille. Dementsprechend klingt die Scheibe dann auch, selbst eine Retoure und Neuzusendung hat dem keine Abhilfe verschafft. Die 2. LP kam in gleichem Zustand an.