PENTACLE / DEATHFUCKER – Spawn of the Graveless Deity

vote
7.0

• Bands:
  DEATHFUCKER PENTACLES
• Duration: 00:44:42
• Available from: 04/13/2026
• Label:

• Iron Pegasus

• Unholy Domain Records

A prestigious split, one of those that still have a precise meaning within the grammar of the underground: bringing different generations into dialogue, reiterating stylistic coordinates and, above all, celebrating a certain idea of ​​death metal that has never needed external forces to survive. On the one hand the Pentacle veterans, an authentic institution of the European underground; on the other, the Italians Deathfucker, a younger group but already capable of decisively imposing themselves both on record and live.

The Dutch are the ones who open the ball, relying on five tracks that do nothing but reiterate, with pride and coherence, their immutable poetics. The main reference remains that peculiar death metal rereading of the more classic Celtic Frost, filtered through an approach that favors solid structures, essential riffs and a sense of heavy but never truly monolithic groove. The midtempos, the band's trademark, move once again along that ridge that carefully avoids the more martial and stentorian drifts associated with their friends Asphyx, while sometimes touching on their aesthetics. The feeling is that of being faced with a group that has made loyalty to itself a definitive declaration of intent. No surprises, therefore, but not even any signs of tiredness: the passion is intact, as is the ability to construct songs which, despite moving within very rigid coordinates, still manage to leave their mark. In particular, “Our Second Coming…in Wrath” and “Spawn of the Desert Womb” emerge as highly effective episodes, among the best of their recent production, thanks to an almost perfect balance between tension, dynamics and memorability of the riffs.

The move to Deathfucker marks a fairly clear change of pace, without betraying the common stylistic denominator. Where the Pentacles work by subtraction and controlled heaviness, the Italians respond with a more technical, tight and bestial approach. Their declared point of reference remains that of the first Morbid Angel, and even in this case it is not a hidden or crypticly reworked influence: it is all there, exhibited with pride and conviction. What distinguishes Deathfucker from various other disciples, however, is the intensity with which they handle this language: their compositions are authentic hotbeds of malevolent riffs, linked with an almost compulsive logic that constantly keeps the tension high. The approach is direct and tends to avoid any overly epic or atmospheric drift, instead favoring a visceral impact. At the same time, the variety within the songs, guaranteed by the high number of riffs per track, prevents everything from flattening into an exercise in phoned-in style. It is precisely this hunger, this palpable expressive urgency, that makes the difference: each passage seems to be played as if it were the last, with a passion that gives death metal back that animalistic dimension that is often lost in more polished productions.

Overall, the split works exactly as it should: it highlights the strengths of both bands, without unnecessary overlap. Two compatible but distinct visions, which reinforce each other and leave, at the end of listening, a concrete desire to delve further. And this is perhaps the best possible result for a job of this type.