The grimy rotting log on the forest floor that is the deepest-most regions of the landscape of the death metal underground is eternally thriving with bands that are more than worthy of commendation if we’re just willing enough to search it out, as we all know. Diversity is not the scene’s greatest aspect, but there’s something to be said from throngs of bands that manage to make a sound that’s been tossed around for decades work so well. I could name tons of acts and they’d fit the bill, but it’s here with Conquest Icon and their upcoming work that the description fits almost too well.

There really isn’t a better word to define “Empire of the Worm” than what I already used to describe the scene as a whole: grimy. Naturally, I mean that in a good way but there’s something that Conquest Icon did in the makings of this album that makes it work way too fucking well on a scale that countless other death metal bands try to bring to the mix on literally every single body of work that they ever create whether it’s just a single or a double album, but Conquest Icon makes it work like very few other acts are able to. Working in plenty of grooves that are devilishly infectious paired with that classic death metal nastiness that’s pulled off with undeniable ferocity with a fucking near-perfect approach to it all that makes all ten tracks off of “Empire of the Worm” something that burrows into your mind to quickly become an aptly named earworm the likes of which death metal gets on a pretty irregular basis. It’d be easy to say that this work is very much one that many people are clamoring for, as I’ve claimed here and there before, but this is very much the same thing that plenty of other acts have brought to the table before, yet it’s through their works of groove and sheer intensity that Conquest Icon really makes for a damn good performance that is incredibly hard to rip yourself away from.

There’s nothing wrong with wanting to perform a style that many others have done before as that’s all of the music industry on a daily basis, let’s be honest here, so when a band can come around and dish out something even close to the likes of “Empire of the Worm” it makes them stick out in the most glorious of fashion. Conquest Icon really knew what they were doing when creating this work, and it shows at every turn as their expertise shows in both the quality and nastiness of this record such that even after hours of listening to it the album is just as infectious now as it was on the very first spin.

“Empire of the Worm” releases on March 13th via Godz ov War Productions!

LISTEN to advanced tracks from “Empire of the Worm” on Bandcamp here.

LIKE Conquest Icon on Facebook here.