Genocide Pact – Genocide Pact (Review)

Genocide Pact are a death metal band from the US and this is their third album.

I really liked Genocide Pact’s filthy 2018 release Order of Torment, which was a very satisfying album. This new self-titled is even filthier, even more crushingly heavy, and even uglier than its predecessor.

Across 33 minutes Genocide Pact make their malevolent mark felt like a hammer to the face. Grisly riffs are thrown at you like jagged rocks, while the band’s sense of anger and doomed hopelessness rages through the air like something virulent.

This is old-school death metal that’s full of malignant catchiness and morbid memorability. Slower and mid-paced heaviness is the main order of business, although faster sections and blast beats also appear, lashing out with gloomy violence. When melodies are used they’re macabre and grim, and infused with negative feeling.

The songs are well-written and include some classic thrash and hardcore influences. Genocide Pact utilise a traditional formula for their music, and it works well not only for its timeless approach, but also because of how good they are at what they do. Genocide Pact is an old-school death metal album that does exactly what you would want it to, and it sounds authentically of the era it is heavily influenced by.

Genocide Pact delivers brutal old-school death metal that is extremely enjoyable and satisfying. If you have a taste for the early 90s and like to be able to detect some thrash and hardcore in your death metal, then this is for you.

Very highly recommended.