HELLS EDEN – Church Of Defilement

Church Of Defilement is the title of the debut release of a five-piece band called Hells Eden that hails from Colorado Springs, USA. Despite the pretty good artwork and the lyrics booklet, this five-song EP can be considered as a demo release, taking into account the rough sound production. In particular, during the blast-beats, the drums sound raw and shallow as if they were recorded straight from the rehearsal room.

The band plays Death Metal through a Black Metal perspective, with a twist of Grindcore. This means high-pitched, evil screams mixed with deep Death Metal growls. The lead guitars play some fast, classic Black Metal shredding riffs, while the low tuning rhythm guitars reminds of Morbid Angel’s evil and dark performing style.

The lyrics are full of anger and hatred against every religion on earth. As the band states, all of the religions teach to love and to respect each other but have “… a deep-down hatred for any other religion that may exist …” The main subject of this anti-religion attitude is Christianity expressed with the classic pentagrams and some inverted crosses in the artwork.

The drums open for the first song of the EP, entitled “Decapitated Angels,” bearing the aforementioned rough sound. The proverbial Morbid Angel influences are found in the slow and heavy rhythm section, with a lot of double pedaling and distorted “evil” vocals. During the end of the track, the tempo is accelerated, comprising the classic Black Metal blast beats.

“Within Visions of My Disgust” is the next track, featuring a fast guitar riff in the beginning, leading to a slower break where some Grindcore vocals appear to justify the Cannibal Corpse influences mentioned by the band. Here the sound production deserves some credit for the dominating presence of the bass guitar during the slow parts that enriches the sound of the song.

The next two tracks, “Church of Defilement” and “Killing Spree,” are filled with some well-played guitar riffs and a compact rhythm section with some additional tempo changes. The EP closes with the almost Gridcore song and the descriptive title “Maniacal Rape of Nuns.” The highlight of this track is the ultra heavy headbanging rhythm section played by the Slayer–esque guitars.

There is nothing fancy or groundbreaking in the debut release by Hells Eden. Although the songs are well-performed, the band needs to search more for a personal sound in order to get the attention needed for a record deal. Of course, there is much to be done in the song arrangements and the sound production until the full length release sees the light of the day. For the diehard fans of this unholy sound, Church Of Defilement could find a place in the gift list for Christmas Eve …