LP Review: "Cast The First Stone" by Hour of Penance

Cast The First Stone

Here in the United States, the sentence we have heard over and over is "This is not normal." Donald Trump, soon to be the 45th President of the United States is not normal.

Where we are headed over the course of the next four years is also not normal.

As we are weeks away from the very abnormal coming true, the thing I'm craving most of all is normalcy.

Beef Stew, Ramen, and Hot Dogs will be a large part of my upcoming diet.

One of the things we can count on to fuel a need for normalcy is death metal. Death metal is a monolithic force that's been carrying on for nearly thirty years now. The growls, the blast beats, and the ripping guitar solos. They are what fans of extreme metal, like myself, live for.

From earlier reviews... Hour of Penance

Hour of Penance has made this quest for normalcy all the more easier by sticking to their schedule of an album every two years.

Their last album, Regicide, was a beautiful cacophony of death metal destruction.

But what makes an album great is more than what the listener needs. Cast The First Stone wouldn't hold my ear were it not an album worth hearing.

Round and round as it spins, our Italian friends weave tales of death, blood, and horror. Conceptually the album goes back to the Crusades, Colonialism, and modern day holy war.

None of which is supported by my understanding.

When bands are making music about a theme, an idea, or fighting against them, like the horrors from 1,000 years ago don't justify your horrors today, the music is stronger and more powerful.

If there is one things bands like Hour of Penance don't need, it's more power, but by the gods does it always make their music better. Extreme metal bands that have a point that's a bit more ambitious than this is heavy are always better than the others.

Hour of Penance delivers another thumping album.

Release: 1/27/17
Genre: Death Metal
Label: Prosthetic Records
Formats: LP/CD/Digital
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