Apostasy – Accuser of Brethren

There are many bands named Apostasy, especially in America. This one in particular was a death metal band from Florida that recorded only one demo called Accuser of Brethren before splitting up. Oh boy, more shit to dig into.

To my great surprise, this demo is actually quite good. This can probably be attributed to the fact that it was produced by Greg Marchak, who also produced Winter's legendary album, Into Darkness. The guitar tone is rich and thick and the snare has a tremendous amount of impact to it. The musicianship is just as good as the production. The drums offer up lots of vigorous blast beats as well as plenty of crafty double bass and even some slow, crushing rhythms that border on doom/death. The bass also gets plenty of attention, giving the music some extra muscle and even taking the spotlight on occasion.

The vocals consist of a hoarse growl that sounds delightfully sinister. They sound like a demon that takes great enjoyment from the destruction he inflicts upon the world. Best of all are the guitars. They play lots of fast and wicked riffs, as well as a few mid-paced riffs that sound very similar to thrash metal. As with the drums, they also play some slow riffs that sound like the world is descending into an impenetrable darkness. On top of all that, they also play plenty of howling solos that sound quite similar to early Cannibal Corpse.

I was rather delighted to discover that this demo was actually good. The production is fantastic, the drums are powerful, the hoarse growls are wonderfully sinister, and the guitars are absolutely incredible. Yet another wonderful demo by a short-lived band.