The ghouls of the endless night have risen once again from the graveyards of Stockholm, ready to invade your dreams like a black nightmare. Without a doubt, among the many bands resurrecting the spirit of old-school death metal in recent years, Bastard Priest has been one of the most eagerly anticipated in terms of new material. And I’m certain that if you played their latest filth for someone unfamiliar with the band, they could easily believe the album was recorded in the late '80s or early '90s. Matt Mendoza and Inventor return to desecrate the graves once more, this time with an even rawer production and a more pronounced d-beat rhythmic backbone to their tracks.
After hooking fans with the sheer magnificence of 2010’s Under the Hammer of Destruction—a record that might well be on "cult albums" lists twenty years from now—this new release carries the same torch without compromise. With razor-sharp tones buzzing like chainsaws and Mendoza’s echo-laden, sin-dripping vocals, the duo creates a sinister atmosphere that’s hard to resist. Some of his screams even recall the spirit of Chris Reifert. The only slight letdown is the cover art—it’s not bad, but not quite what you'd expect from Bastard Priest. (If you remember, Mendoza once mentioned in an interview that they had some trouble finalizing the artwork.)
One thing’s certain: this album leans more toward crusty death metal than the first. Across these eight tracks of pure filth, the downtuned guitar tone offers not only death metal brutality but also satisfies crust and even thrash expectations. As the breakdowns shake you to the core, certain melodic leads inject a kind of sinful charm. Many tracks alternate between tremolo-picked riffs and punk-style progressions, while the wailing, shrieking guitar solos amplify the dark ritualistic vibe perfectly. A prime example is “Fucking Slaughter”—the track transforms entirely in its closing moments through solo-driven chaos. It’s a fast-paced death metal storm filled with pure punk energy, especially thanks to the relentless d-beat drumming. Whether the tempo spikes or drops, the guitar howls are both electrifying and chilling.
Take “Enter Eternal Nightmare”—starting with tom-heavy tribal drums, the slow part features haunting, cry-like riffs, while the fast segment is swarmed with overlapping, moaning solos that weigh down on you like a heavy fog. In this track, vocals are nearly absent after a breaking point, giving it a semi-instrumental, zombified atmosphere. The title track “Ghouls of the Endless Night” begins with a pounding pace and keeps charging forward, but from the two-minute mark onward, the track undergoes impressive transformations—especially at the 3:48 break, where the drum surge and buzzing sharp riffs completely take over your senses.
“Poison” takes a sharp turn into slow, doom-laced death metal territory, and its intro instantly calls Autopsy’s Severed Survival to mind. Knowing Mendoza is a fan of old zombie flicks, I skimmed the lyrics looking for clues about B-movie horror references this time around—but to be honest, I couldn’t quite figure out what inspired the lyrical content here.
Naturally, the album nods to giants like Repulsion, Entombed, Autopsy, and Dismember, but it also blends in crusty influences from the likes of Miasmal, Nuclear Death Terror, Massmörd, and Disfear. It’s as if this album were the sonic equivalent of wandering alone through a fog-covered graveyard on a freezing winter night—pure menace drips from every note. 666% recommended.