Maybe it’s just me, but I feel like I haven’t heard Church of Disgust’s name tossed around nearly as frequently as I did just a few years ago. Their last release, Consumed by Slow Putrefaction, received a favorable review from yours truly. Just a few short weeks later, the world as we know it essentially ended. Among the sea of undeserving trend hoppers, a handful of decent death metal bands were able to keep up their notoriety during these weeks and months of uncertainty. Meanwhile, Church of Disgust seemed to retreat into the shadows, carefully plotting their next maniacal onslaught.
Fast forward two years later and said onslaught has arrived in the form of their third full length album, Weakest Is the Flesh. This is the band’s first album on the esteemed Hell’s Headbangers label, and rightfully so. The band already earned their right to stand alongside the likes of Cardiac Arrest, Deceased, and other death metal heavyweights. On Weakest, they’ve elevated their musical and songwriting chops to a level that just about touches those of these aforementioned underground gods.
At their core, Church of Disgust are a full blown death metal band. They flirt with facets of thrash and doom, the latter being especially prevalent throughout this release, but they are by no means a “death/thrash” or “death/doom” band. They are a death metal band with an extra emphasis on “death”. Cuts like “Arrogant Death” and “That Which Dwells in the Gloom” channel the dark and dismal dread of Morbid Angel, as well as the blood splattering ferocity of Autopsy. They sound like lost relics from 1991, without blatantly attempting to sound like such. This authenticity is also felt on the filthy, thrashing “Horrific Anathema” and blatantly putrid “Seemingly Unnatural Infestations”.
After a brief interlude in “That Great Tomb That Holds No Sound”, things only get deadlier. The arrangement and atmosphere of “At the Pillar of Souls” gives off serious Hell Awaits era Slayer vibes, which is always a good thing. “Humiliated Remains” is a maggot riddled smorgasbord of doom, thrash, groove, and death, while “Boiling Seas of Yuggoth” lets the blast beats fly with little regard for those of a weak disposition. Closing it all out is the album’s epic 7+ minute title track, which mostly keeps things slow and low in the tradition of Cianide. When it does rev up to thrashing speed, we again hear those Slayer tendencies, which is bound to be a delight to headbangers of all ages.
Church of Disgust worships at the altar of death metal and are among the genre’s most steadfast disciples today. While their sound occasionally resembles the finest acts of the late 80s or early 90s, I wouldn’t for a second call them a worship and/or imitation act. These dudes play their own thing and are damn proud of it, as they should be. Weakest Is the Flesh is a hellish album that’s bound to match the scorching heat which awaits this summer. The death metal fire burns bright within these merciless maniacs.
7 out of 10
Label: Hells Headbangers Records
Genre: Death Metal
For fans of: Autopsy, Cianide, Malignant Altar