Holy Death spit out their debut album ‘Separate Mind From Flesh’, with pounding, raging torrents of unforgiving hardcore/doom, bitty, dirty chugs and few higher melodies , this ruthless album sets the bar of their career at a breakthrough level.
Tumbling down the spiral of despair, simplistic yet effective riffs combine with good old 4/4 timing, somewhat minimalist, hard hitting percussion and a relentless punchy bass, Holy Death smack you in the face while ripping your life from your body with their expert ‘tough-guy’ music. Vocals are distorted in a Nails-esque fashion, with some very hardcore overtones. The essence of doom is strong within ‘Separate Mind From Flesh’, but mostly associated with its downtempo feel, tonality and occultist-moody interludes. The guitar tone is very emulative of powerviolence, and the vocals’ use of soft palate vibration with post production distortion also reflects this. This album could easily be a Nails record, if not for its lack of fast riffs/double kicks and inclusion of excesse atmosphere.
Although this album sounds incredibly strong, it would be interesting to hear what it may sound like with more higher melodic layers over the impactful chugs and chords, as is displayed in their title track. Perhaps some musical depth could be added to the more cumulative sections, or interlude passages could be revived later within the track, which would add some circularity and develop songwriting.
