Album Review: Switchblade Jesus - Death Hymns
Reviewed by Paul Hutchings
You can feel the dirt and the heat in this filthy 28-minute album. ‘Death Hymns’ is a demonstration that you don’t have to overcook things to get results. The band, from Corpus Christi, Texas, combine elements of thrash, death metal, stoner and doom in one ungodly concoction which leaves you breathless.
Formed in 2010, Switchblade Jesus released their self-titled debut in 2013, adjusted to their current line up of Eric Calvert (lead guitar/vocals), Chris Black (bass) and Jon Elizondo (drums) in 2016 and have continued to lay waste with their outrageously aggressive heaviness. Think Mastodon, Neurosis and Obituary in one unholy threesome.
‘Death Hymns’ is brutal. There’s no word that describes it better. The rampant drive of the opening duo ‘Scorched’ and ‘Red Plains’ capture everything that you could want. All underpinned by a ferocious technicality which punches repeatedly to the solar plexus. It’s impossible not to be breathless after the first listen. A steamroller of a ride, my advice is to strap in, prepare the neck brace and lose your mind to the rollicking trip that this power trio embark on.
It’s not all explosive power. There’s a delicious Sabbath flavour to the title track, an ethereal, haunting piece that allows rare opportunity to draw breath, as well as admiration at the sheer size of the noise that Switchblade Jesus emit. The pounding bass on the intro to ‘Forgotten’ is merely a gateway to a sludgy punch to the cranium, and if you are still standing after this darkened meandering, the killer blow is delivered with the thrashtastic roller ‘Behemoth’ with its punishing riff and snarling message, and the finale of ‘The Blackened Sun’, a gnarly, punchy song that demonstrates the underlying ferocity.
The stoner and sludge scene are heavily congested these days, but Switchblade Jesus stand high above it. This is an epic re-release, an aural tsunami which leaves an auditory reaction akin to gunpowder being ignited in your ear passage.
