Album Review: Bethledeign – Iconography of Suffering (Edgewood Arsenal Records)

Sometimes to move on, you have to reanimate the past, and that’s exactly what Tony Petrocelly has in mind. While most of his material emerges under the name of Construct of Lethe, the Virginia guitarist has chosen to record the shelved material that emerged when the band was known as Bethledeign while the former band is on a short break. Completing the rest of the lineup are Gus Barr [lead guitar, Lago] and the peerless Giulio Galati [drums, Hideous Divinity], and the result, Iconography of Suffering, is a blistering run of extreme metal.

Despite having been written over a decade ago, the material on Iconography of Suffering sounds just as fresh as any other release of 2019. It is out on December 13th 2019.

Is the reason Iconography of Suffering doesn’t sound dated one bit because of the sheer power of Bethledeign or that it’s been the year of the death metal? After a while the blend of new school bands playing old school stuff starts to confuse things.

This very well could be a band playing in the old school death way or it could be an old school band just plying their trade. Both kind of apply to Bethledeign and Iconography of Suffering, an old-school album put through a modern sieve. Provided you’re not expecting anything too wildly different to the death metal norm, you’ll have a blast with Bethledeign’s blasting metal noise.

Sticking to type in death metal can be both a curse and a blessing though. On the one hand, death metal is death metal and fans expect a certain something. Differ too much from the crunch and crash and you end up being dismissed as just another off-shoot. However, stick unflinchingly to type and you run the risk of not standing out amongst a very crowded pack.

The best thing you can do it seems is just play what you play as best as possible. Which is exactly what Bethledeign do. As far as death metal release go this year, it’s one of the most savage and intense. A brain-aching level of heaviness, the roars of the vocals and screeching guitar vocals loud enough to pierce the soft matter.

Bethledeign – Iconography of Suffering Full Track Listing:

1. Domain
2. Invoking the Apostasy
3. Opens-Eviscerates
4. Eight Pointed Star
5. Iconography of Suffering
6. The Lament Configuration
7. Besieged by Night
8. Prey for Oblivion

Links

Edgewood Arsenal Records