The Pitch: Utilizing ideas from Hamlet and Don Delillo's White Noise, New York's Hellkeeper lay waste with some truly aggressive hardcore. FFO: Left Behind, Bastard Feast, and Converge.
What I Like: This ravenous group will rip out your entrails. Between the cover art and overall aesthetic, there is a certain blackened darkness to Hellkeeper's sound. If you locked up Converge in a mental institution for a good decade in solitary confinement, they might discharge sounding a bit like this. Their approach to music is highly aggressive before all else as evidenced by the primal, throat-ripping screams, bursts of feedback, and bludgeoning blastbeats. More than a little grindcore influence here. But the band also throws a few curveballs with some unique clean vocals that never detract from their mission statement of supreme violence ("Species").
What I Don't Like: I find A World Within Flesh to be a tad inconsistent. The album opens very strong and continues to deliver some powerful highs, but there is other material that seems less polished in comparison.
The Verdict: A bit of the ultraviolence brought to you by a band that should bring in fans everywhere between Rotten Sound and Young And In The Way. Stream it early HERE.
Flight's Fav's: Obscure, Drown, Henbane