Deliquesce // Cursed With Malevolence // Album Review

Australian death metal band Deliquesce are releasing their debut album “Cursed With Malevolence” this November. A showcase of new technical death metal & the groovy breakdowns of slam death metal.

Forming in 2019 but only releasing their first material in 2020, “Engineered Frailty” made a huge splash in the underground death metal scene. Melding the technical riffing of Disgorge & Deeds Of Flesh with the knuckle-dragging but groundbreaking elements of the 90s NY slam bands like Pyrexia, Suffocation & Internal Bleeding.

Now releasing their debut full-length on the ever-mighty DAZE, “Cursed With Malevolence” sees the band push their sonic assault even further.

“Voiceless Slaughter” opens up the album & already shows the precise technical abilities of the band have been turned up a notch.

A sea of mind-bending riffs fills your ears drums, but quickly you feel the groove & the rhythmic style of the band. Unlike other bands who are all riffs & no groove, Deliquesce is the total opposite.

Nothing puts me off a band’s music more than “riff salad” but Deliquesce somehow can create complex riffing structures & still keep you banging your head & feeling the groove of the track.

One of the band’s strongest assets is their organic & raw sound. “Sectarian Divide” really shows even with the chaotic moments the band creates that the whole effort doesn’t get lost. Where some modern bands go for a raw production to make it fit into the “old school” sound & fall flat here Deliquesce’s power & strength are the raw production. If it was too clean & sterile it would lose the power of the band harness.

The addition of Jim Beach of Pyrexia brings home those NY slam-style elements. This track is filled to the brim with hard-ass slam sections that will knock your socks off.

The most primal track on the album “Invasive Biopsy” is my stand out. It has a nice balance of slamming breakdowns but sprinkles the crazy riffing throughout the track nicely. Guitarist Adrian Cappelletti is a pure genius.

And I don’t give out that term much, but the amount of great fast but perfectly executed riffing he can produce as well as very inventive breakdowns is phenomenal. The closing moments of this track showcase his ability to throw everything at you in the best way possible & it just all blends perfectly together. Precise & punishing.

Nearing the end of the album “Vile Spectres” is just another showcase of the superb ability the band as a whole has. The chaotic but also tightly controlled drumming of Ricki Merewether, the thick but piano-like bass tone of Armando Wall who has no problem keeping up with Cappelletti’s frenetic guitar writing & capping it off the guttural tones of James Cooper. Cooper has to be one of my favourite newer guttural vocalists.

Producing death metal & slamming guttural vocals how I believe they should be made. Reminding me of classic vocalists such as Frank Rini (Internal Bleeding), Darryl Wagner (Pyrexia) & even hints of Matti Way (Disgorge, Pathology) he’s been able to take the raw essence of these vocalists but also really make it his own. A fresh take which is great to hear.

Within “Cursed With Malevolence” Deliquesce have been able to curate a fantastic meld of death metal genres to create an exciting & modernistic look at the classic death metal sound. Breathing a new album into the world that has so many fantastic twists will keep the listener engaged & enough heavy breakdowns that could level a whole city.

Joseph Mitchell