Since 1990, New York’s longtime running death metal band Pyrexia have returned to create the heaviest, chaotic and memorable releases in the band’s existence. After a five year long gap, Unholy Requiem is easily one of the most impressive albums I’ve heard in 2018 whilst retaining catchy, technical and groovy brutality at best. Musically, this is traditional Pyrexia at their finest as the band heavily concentrates on 50% aggression and 50% groove while the songwriting has it’s own standout aspects. Every track displayed here has different ideas which are spaced nicely and evenly between the roots of extreme music. The band has definitely got a hold on how to make good songs. They play with technicality when bringing on the speed, and are willing to leave the egos alone when they just want you to get caught up in the groove, resulting in quite a refreshing listen.
Pyrexia, alongside other bands such as Suffocation, Internal Bleeding, and Dehumanized, were bands who left a mark in the New York death metal scene, and that will be forever evident. Unholy Requiem is ferocious, unapologetic, and in-your-face, with everything working together perfectly, from the riffs to the vocals, the drums, and the production work this is Pyrexia’s return to form. Each track represents a character and while their earliest material became noticeable, the album’s duration and presentation holds back the 90’s nostalgic trip when it naturally comes to the NYDM community.
With the album introducing eight tracks of relentless, pulverizing death metal, featuring equal parts speedy ferocious riffage and crushing groove-filled slams, to the explosive flavors of whirlwind assaults from blazing riffs and machine gun like blast beats, Unholy Requiem is a solid release throughout, and a pummeling slab of definitive New York-style death metal that hearkens back to Pyrexia’s 1993 debut, Sermon of Mockery.
Overall Score: 8.5/10
Review by Jake Butler
