American death metal trio Trenchant generally keep things simple on the debut full length offering Commandocult; That doesn’t mean the album lacking in guile or intelligence, however, rather that the band knows what works for them and use that knowledge to keep their music lean, nasty and above all BRUTAL…

That said, there’s a fair bit of melody (a skewed, hellish melody – but melody nonetheless) strewn across the album, often cropping up where you’d least expect it in the gravelly, rasp-ridden vocal lines of NRS, who also delivers some fine chug in his role as the band’s sole guitarist.

Opening with the title track, the band slip into high cruising speed early but it’s not until the spiteful Burning Spires of Mercury that they hit full ramming speed; after this, across a run of four tracks that culminates in the superb martial desolation of Trumpets of Jericho, our three heroes (the band is rounded out by drummer GRA and bassist TND) deliver some of the most vital, most exciting death metal you’ll have heard so far in 2022.

Darkwater Graves, with it’s nagging chorus refrain, is that rare death metal nugget – the song that stays in your brain for a long time after it’s final notes have expired – whilst the afore-mentioned …Jericho and Yellow Cross Orizon – a song about Mustard Gas, natch- are just straightahead superb slices of death metal song composition. Not a note is wasted as the band wreak a high-impact siege on the listener’s ears, not a riff overplayed or flogged to death. This is relentlessly efficient stuff…

Only on final track In The Fires of Night does the band allow itself time to stretch out a little and explore areas a little more ‘progressive’, but they show that here too they have a full grasp of the sonic pictures that they strive to achieve. And, to be fair, you’ll probably be glad of a little rest after the carnage you’ve been subjected to over the previous half an hour or so.

Great stuff all round then, and Trenchant have proved here that they are a force to be reckoned with on the American death metal scene – and hopefully beyond – in the coming years.

Commandoccult releases on March 11th.