Cleric: Gratum Inferno

The cover art on this album, a shocking and horrible large-scale image surely inspired by Hieronymus Bosch's The Garden of Earthly Delights, will certainly hit audiences at the most visceral levels. Like driving by a horrible car accident, the image plays to that all-too-human dual register of attraction and repulsion. Put another way, you won't want to look but you won't be able to pull away. Though not a pleasant picture, it certainly captures the spirit of the death metal music it helps introduce.

Cleric is a relatively new band that hails from Dallas, Texas. I haven't heard of them before now, though I'm sure they already have something of a following not only in their home town but also elsewhere. The music on this album is a strong thirty-minute set of brutal and unrelenting Swedish-style death metal. It makes for a good listen, but it is not for the faint of heart. Fans of this style of metal will surely be drawn to it, if only to see what these American guys can do with that old-school sound.

As for me, I liked "Left Hand Wrath" and "Through the Starless Abyss" the best. The rest of the album delivers a consistent offering of strong and relentless death metal.

Track Listing:
1. Gratum Inferno
2. Through the Starless Abyss
3. From Womb to Tomb
4. Satanic Dimensions
5. Into Death and Far Beyond
6. Left Hand Wrath
7. Faith in Debauchery

Added: December 20th 2013
Reviewer: Carl Sederholm
Score:
Related Link: Band Facebook Page
Hits: 1755
Language: english

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