Maceration - Serpent Devourment
(Emanzipation Producitons – 2025)
I am so glad that my Dad (Paul Mace) gave me this album to review for Metalliville… Let me begin by informing any reader that Death Metal isn’t my musical genre of choice. So this won’t be the most flattering review I’m likely to do.
Before I offer my opinion of Maceration’s new release let me give you a small glimpse into these Danish Death Metallers. A full length debut release came out all the way back in 1992 by the name of ‘A Serenade of Agony’.
A thirty year wait followed before 2022’s ‘It Never Ends…’ was released. Now Maceration bring us ‘Serpent Devourment’, which is the bands third full length album release. Musically this album is closer to seeing your village raided by the marauding brutality of the Vikings. Not watching a prime Christian Eriksen produce midfield magic for the Danish national football team.
Angst driven thrash aggression blisters behind Jan Bergmann Jepsen’s Death Metal growls in opener ‘Serpent Devourment’. There is malice bubbling to the surface straight away thanks to the albums title track. Abrasive growls attack you as the head rattling pounding drums of Nicolai Kaltoft pummel you into submission in ‘The Den of Misery’.
Two songs in and this seething Death Metal sound is definitely not for me. Track 3 is ‘A Corrosive Heart Fell Below’ and offers indistinguishable snarling growls from Jepsen that tear at your ears. This is very corrosive listening! ‘Where Leeches Thrive’ creates the exact landscape the songs title suggests. It’s an unpleasant and abrasive listen.
Fast forwarding to the albums seventh track ‘When Torment Befell My Pain’. We get something briefly resembling a melody from guitarists Robert Tengs and Jakob Schultz. Unfortunately the drumming never stops smashing into you like a deranged jackhammer and the vocals from Jepsen only serve to torment.
I suppose Nicolai Kaltoft’s stamina to pummel you with unrelenting double bass pedal action should be commended. While Jepsen must fork out a small fortune in throat lozenges while on tour.
‘For The End Alone’ closes the album with the continued bombardment of drums and the grating growls which attack again. I am relieved when the album is over and have the sound of silence to sooth my battered ear drums. I am sure for those who like aggressive Death Metal this might be an album worth checking out.
For me, Maceration are not a band I will be listening to again. Thanks again to my Dad for passing this album over to me to review! I will end with a positive, the artwork for ‘Serpent Devourment’ is rather impressive. A demonic octopus like creature, slithers through a dark, bleak, desolate landscape. It encapsulates what the album musically unleashes.
By Carl Mace