Father Befouled - Rotting Godless Throne

FATHER BEFOULED - Rotting Godless Throne (NUCLEAR WAR NOW! - 7"EP 2010)

Among all the American death metal bands that came into being in the past two decades, Father Befouled certainly holds a high place in my personal ranking, especially with such records as "Morbid Destitution of Covenant". Actually, I like some other projects, which involve Father Befouled members, too, like Encoffination, but Father Befouled is the best for sure. It's one of those bands, whose all recordings I try to get on vinyl, if it's only possible of course. So, this is why "Rotting Godless Throne" 7"EP appeared in my collection. It is a highly interesting single, I have to say, not only from its strictly musical aspect, but also for its history - which has been explained in details in the liner notes, mentioning also Antichristus, who originally was supposed to record drums, but took his own life just days before the band entered the studio. 

Well, speaking of the music, Father Befouled is one of the heaviest death metal bands you will ever hear. The crushing wall of dense, poisonous sound is just overwhelming, making your ears bleed and bones break in insane pain. I just love that raw, yet intense and powerful production, which "Rotting Godless Throne" has. It perfectly fits that morbid and sacrilegious aura of the music, I say. It is obviously quite similar in some aspects to Encoffination works, but Father Befouled is better, as their music is more varied, with more interesting aspects thrown within every song - massive, doomy parts and fast, brutal pieces can live in great symbiose, in the great Incantation style. And unlike Encoffination, which is only slow and slower, this music is not monotonous at all. There are three tracks on this EP, one of them is "Weeping in Heaven" (originally by Profanatica), for which they asked Paul Ledney to play drums. Fuckin sick song they did! But the title track from side A is the best one in my opinion! It’s a killer 7”EP, you need to have in your collection if you love that format. 

Verdict: 85/100