Album Review: Appalling – Sacrilege
Reviewed by Sam Jones
Appalling are a band I picked up pretty last minute; at the time of writing this, Sacrilege is only a week or so out from its release date but owing to how little blackened death metal I’ve honestly touched this year, I thought Appalling would be worth checking out even just for being something different. Appalling are one of those bands, part of the newer wave of US death metal, where they’ve been steadily churning their output of material throughout the numerous years without rushing albeit to the positive reception received by fans. The band, Virginia-based, United States, began in 2015 and since that time they’ve slowly pumped material that, while it may be just one per year, does indicate a steady and consistent work effort to give their fans what they’re after. They released their first full length in 2019 titled Inverted Realm and now, a further three years on, Appalling look primed to release their sophomore record, simply titled Sacrilege, and with a December slot no less. Let’s take a look what what Appalling are made of.
I like how this record opens out with a typical introduction piece, the sort that isn’t long but gives us an understanding of what this record may have in store for us. In this instance however, Appalling see to it their introductory piece isn’t merely some ambient or instrumental piece; it’s a legitimately fleshed and planned out track that opens us up to what Sacrilege will be developing further in. I do enjoy instances such as these; it’s as if the band are giving you a small teaser of the album whilst you’re already listening to it. It’s a demonstration of their guitar tone, their vocal performance and the overall ambience one may expect to get out from them. While the opening track may give us an idea of what Appalling are all about, the first real track on the record, “Life In Prism”, is where we get the full power of what Appalling are all about; blistering blast beats, riffs that scale and serrate us and a pacing that holds nothing back.
As we mentioned, the band’s approach to songwriting is one that manages to hold you within their grasp all the while hurling absolutely extraordinary swathes of intensity and violence your way. With the shorter tracks this is to be expected as the band won’t be lending themselves the time to develop anything substantial; these pieces will be where you’ll get the most devastating and uncompromising portions of their performance. What’s good to know is how the band have nicely propagated their record with tracks of a nicely diverse length here and there, so while we may get a slew of shorter tracks the band will then break up the breakneck pace by slowing it down with a longer track. But even then, the band’s rapid styled songwriting doesn’t let up; their form of riff playing is one that takes us from side to side, ripping and tearing until the piece is done. You can feel the speed their guitar work plays at which is only backed up by the visceral vocals on display.
With that said, it isn’t merely the speed at which the riffs are played at that lends this record a particularly visceral and sharp timbre. When you pay attention to the riffs herein, you quickly pick up on how the songwriting has manoeuvred the segments of riffs into such particular places that the speed at which they play seems to provide an additional, biting aesthetic to them. It’s immediately apparent that the band are dedicated to bringing a ruthless sonic environment to this record but it isn’t purely the speed the guitar work moves at which has resulted in this; the band never sit in one space for too long and not do the riffs either. These segmented sections of riffs may be present but they’re soon gone and replaced with the next in the span of seconds; very little is given permanence throughout this album which only heightens the rampant ferocity Appalling play with.
If there’s one aspect that showcases the band’s label as a blackened death metal outfit, it’s the vocals. As you move from track to track, it becomes abundantly evident the power the vocals have been able to impart. While the riffs and songwriting has this somewhat blackened vibe to their sound, it’s the vocals that really manage to champion this notion since their performance is so engrossed with malice and piercing fervour. I do appreciate that the vocals don’t go too far into the usual blackened vocal style, but somehow sits on tip of the fence dividing death and black metal. It’s the kind of vocal performance where you’re not going to follow along too greatly with what is being annunciated, but the tone and general performance their vocalist manages to provide us with is what will really sell their vitriol and power to us. It’s also a very good performance whereby we not feel the innate strength this record purports but also the legitimate control and discipline that’s going into his voice. When the deeper and longer vocal pieces are utilised, we pick up on how his voice doesn’t falter or waiver up and down as the note is being carried.
In conclusion, Appalling’s second full length release is an album I found to quickly grow on me once I got used to the nature of their riffs and how their songwriting has been approached throughout the writing process. Capping off the experience with what could be my favourite, if bluntly, titled track, “These People Need To Die”, Appalling demonstrate why Sacrilege is an album to be reckoned with why people shouldn’t shirk off December from the top records of the year list simply because of the time of year. I can imagine a few people jotting Appalling down as quite the favourable band for this time of year, providing a vicious and powerful production that is able to exert copious amounts of malicious energy without the band needing to try too hard in order to achieve such an effect. The thinner guitar tone might offset people initially but once we’re in the swing of things, Appalling do a great job at making such a soundscape feel completely natural. A firm recommendation to be certain.
