Review by Carl on December 27, 2020.

Texas death metal or, if you will, TXDM. It conjures up images of burly men standing around a barbeque swigging beer and grunting at each other. Joking aside, I'll admit that whenever I see that TXDM logo on a release, I immediately buy it. You know you'll get a good dose of brutal death metal without any unnecessary frills. Just a good pummeling around the head, no more, no less. And a good pummeling is what Defleshed and Gutted has to offer. More even, it's quite the severe beating that they have in store!

If you're familiar with drummer Joseph Carillo's other band Devour the Unborn, there will be no surprises to be found on this one. It's kinda like a more primitive version of Devourment. The guitars are downtuned all the way to the floor and the vocals are gutturals so deep they almost make Chris Barnes sound like Celine Dion. The aforementioned drummer keeps it all tight together with blasts, slams and double kicks and I find it hard to keep sitting still while listening to this. I don't think that there is even one melodic note on the whole album and for a musical neanderthal like me that's a big plus!

The production on this album is simply crushing. After the first couple of listens I was blown away by the heaviness of the overall sound, but after a while I started to notice some details I missed at first. If you pay attention you can hear the bass guitar in the mix which adds to the crushing sound of the music. Another thing I didn't notice at first is that the sound of the drums is better than your basic brutal death metal album. A lot of brutal death percussionists use triggers, which makes the drums sound like old fashioned typewriters, but in this case they sound way more organic, albeit slightly compressed. In a few words, the album sounds excellent.

Detractors of the genre will probably say that this album is like listening to one long song and I understand where that comes from. All the tracks are composed of the same few ingredients and the heavy production gives all songs a pretty uniform sound. I don't mind such things but I will admit that if variation is your bag then this is not the album for you. I, on the other hand, enjoy this beast of an album just for what it is: a well produced, heavy as fuck, no frills slam death banger that I will recommend to every fan of the brutal death metal genre.

Oh, and before I forget: don't fucking mess with Texas!

Rating: 8 out of 10

Review by Alex on June 15, 2020.

Another freakish mental discharge emanates from the triumphant Fornicus once again agitating the forces of evil on their latest record Sulphuric Omnipotence. At the slightest glance of the artwork it’s understandable why anyone would be intrigued to check out where it leads. Surely it looks like the kind of cover art an Incantation album would have but the gentlemen here conduct themselves in a faster more brutal way than the death/doom masterminds. Fornicus plays black/death metal, but not the linear, one chord structure brand. Instead they apply multiplicity to their hand of destruction and emerge with an album living up to the hype of its picture-perfect gruesomeness.

Seems like only yesterday when I revived the digital promo for this macabre piece but time and the abundance of so many good bands all offering worthwhile metal to sink the teeth into would eventually jumble themselves with this. Luckily, by the sheer chance of thought and note-keeping, Sulphuric Omnipotence can get the attention can get some of my undivided attention.

Placed under the black/death metal microscope, consider Sulphuric Omnipotence a unification of Marduk ("Panzer Division" era) and Incantation that plays out brilliantly. 'Perdition's Guiding Wings' directs the black/death metal onslaught with its chord heavy doom that shoots into a corrosive outburst of blast beats. A venomous combination of snarls manifest on the wings of 2nd wave black metal tremolo riffing that plunges into a death/doom metal black hole. With burning intensity 'Sulphuric Omnipotence' picks up where its predecessor left off; sharp black metal vocals and death growls combine forces amidst a troublesome drumming display and spine rupturing riffs to lay down a menacing attack.

From here it’s all too easy to get behind with songs like 'The Abhorrent Path' and 'Vitriolic Proclamation' offering tunes as sick as their titles. Fast and catchy blast beats in conspiracy with the Eldrich vocal duality and of course, loads of extremely well played guitar riffs. The Incantation parts sparkle on tracks like 'Inexorable Path of Death' and the likes that have a considerably slower demeanor. Everything fits so neatly that it becomes a spectacle; the transitions amongst mid, fast and utterly slow doom sections cannot go without praise hence the sensible and tactile ways in which they are implemented.

'Stormwolves' and 'One Mass Grave' are huge favorites of mine, they're precise, on the money, black/death/war metal militant marksmanship instrumental of the highest degree. Equipped with all the traits of an experienced band these tracks are without guessing the heavy-weight bullets of the demonic 40 caliber shot on Sulphuric Omnipotence. Eradicatingly heavy, yet at the same time excellently assembled in terms of instrumentation; tight musicianship, no sloppiness.

A must own for any fanatic of instrumental extremity and diligence, Sulphuric Omnipotence is within the underground shadow of militant black/death metal, thus a new milestone is accomplished in Fornicus' history.

Rating: 9 out of 10