Review Summary: From decay rises new life.
Our shirts are smeared with dried blood every time a Hyperdontia record concludes, as the band has never shown signs of hesitation in discharging pure old school death metal at any chance they get, and they haven’t had a single miss since starting off with 2017’s EP “Abhorrence Veil”. Furious debut “Nexus of Teeth” paved the way to a more ambitious effort in 2021 when they released their second album “Hideous Entity”, rightfully providing them with more exposure and establishing their presence in the scene, which is now as terrifying as the definition of the band name. Last year’s EP “Deranged” was dearly loved and building on that momentum, Hyperdontia’s latest full length album “Harvest of Malevolence” proves to be another teeth breaker.
The band’s bag of tricks has no tricks at all when it comes to how they introduce themselves and their records, relying instead on the innate efficacy of pummeling death metal and their ability to compose and deliver it. Once listening to “Harvest of Malevolence”, it comes at no surprise to realize that this is yet another incessant onslaught of bulldozing guitar lines, cavernous growling and thick bass lines, puzzled together cleverly and with no additional elements other than the necessary few that make this music genre great. The production is also fantastic, giving enough clarity to all instruments without being annoyingly polished, while this front cover (done by Wesley Benscoter) may be the best design we have seen from Hyperdontia so far.
It’s incredible how many top-notch riffs are contained in the album, and it shows the band’s talent in song-writing as well as overall attitude towards their art. “Harvest of Malevolence” opens with the fast-paced absolute highlight “Death’s Embrace”, which is a track impossible to dislike if you claim you are into death metal, instantly and violently showing the band’s intentions even if we already knew about that. The speedier parts of the record (e.g. in “Irrevocable Disaster”, “Servant to a Cripple God” and “Salvation in Death”) are devastating, and wonderful soloing accompanies almost every middle tempo section that's introduced, like for example in “Marking the Rite” or “Defame Flesh”, with the latter having some of the bulkiest and most memorable lines in here as a whole.
Old school death metal legends such as Morbid Angel and early Sinister / Unleashed have definitely had a role in shaping Hyperdontia’s sound, and an affinity towards Autopsy can be discerned in the introductory melodies of “Pervasive Rot”, as well as distant references to Bolt Thrower in “Pestering Lamentations”. However, the band doesn’t operate at the mercy of its influences, it has its own identity without diluting their material or drastically changing their approach. “Harvest of Malevolence” is as straightforward as you imagine it to be without being repetitive or a boring copycat.
There’s not much to grumble about in this album, especially considering that the band has created exactly what was expected of them, and remarkably. Apart from being this dense and heavily packed, this one has more natural production than their previous two albums, which was then a little complaint of mine despite thoroughly enjoying them both. “Harvest of Malevolence” not only doesn’t disappoint, but also demands the attention of the fans and confirms how in 2024, Hyperdontia can confidently carry the flag of old school death metal with aristocratic dignity.
