After a seven-year void, Texas pioneers of brutal death metal, Devourment, have returned with a surprise new 12-minute EP that emphatically proves they haven't diminished an ounce of their purpose: absolute heaviness. The '10s saw the band releasing two albums with fairly different responses from the audience, yet I fully enjoyed both Conceived In Sewage (2013) and Obscene Majesty (2019), the latter being of course better.
As with everyone else, I didn't see Pious Impiety coming, a three-track 7" of the band's relentless, trademark slabs of slam death, heavy in a way that suggests the band can take any kind of hiatus they want and still remain on point afterwards.
The EP is direct and destructive, a blasphemous incantation of inverted divinity in the form of staggering grooves, deep cave growling and a suffocating sound production. Opening with the self-titled track and a quote which, I think, is from The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005), "we are the ones who dwell within - and I am Lucifer, devil in the flesh", Devourment's strictly pressed palette instantly explodes with the familiar devastating riffs and repetitive, machine-gun drums.
Tempo changes from fast to middle-paced across the whole track, as "Mortiferous Dependency" continues the assault with a little bit of space for more compositional nuance, but always within the context of brutal death metal's logic. "Advanced Stage Decomposition" closes the EP with some of its heaviest moments, even offering seconds for brief oxygenation towards the end.
For sure, this release is also partially meant to promote the band's upcoming Summer Slaughter tour this summer, but what you're left wondering after it's done is, where's the rest? Three amazing tracks from one of the definitive inventors of this kind of brutal death metal, running close to the longest time period between full length albums they've ever spent, makes you eager for full-length new material.
Better than nothing, it reminded me of why Devourment is at the top of the food chain, with confidence in heavy fundamentals and a perfected vision.
Release: June 11th, 2026 | Relapse Records
Rating: 4 out of 5
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