Normally, it takes quite some time before any particular band can become known as ubiquitous in their style with it taking years of honing your craft and shaping the very sound of the genre around your own to the point where you are the tastemaker of an undeniable sort. When it came to horror-themed death metal only five years ago, I don’t think many of us would have figured that a new name would pop out of the subsection of death metal to become not just a well-respected name but a real powerhouse in its own right. And, really, we should have expected that very thing when Heads for the Dead first came around. Slaying at every given opportunity since day one, this new EP serves as a reminder as to why the name is nothing to underestimate in any capacity.

Horror-themed death metal is such an obvious avenue for the sound that you could do it for years unending without ever running out of decent source material even if you were to retread the same areas multiple times, but to do it well is, like always, an entirely different thing altogether. Heads for the Dead could have easily run into that problem years ago, and I’m sure some would argue that did happen, but the tenacity of Heads for the Dead is nothing to ignore with the very existence of “In the Absence of Faith” a testament to that simple but great truth. Five tracks that feel like a bit of a transition for the band in more ways than one, this EP takes on a life that is pretty easily able to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with its more bombastic predecessors like “Serpent’s Curse” or “The Great Conjuration” without backing down for so much as a moment. Menacing riffs and a fantastic approach that has only seemed to have gotten better over time even in the face of everyone involved long being masters of their individual crafts, “In the Absence of Faith” deserves to be tagged as bombastic in every given form as we’re not only treated to another fantastic display of classic horror in death metal form that Heads for the Dead has become synonymous with, but we see what happens when, now more than ever before, nobody is safe. There’s a particular ferocity and hostility that comes across in the performance as Heads for the Dead descends from the very heavens to deliver a harrowing performance of their sound the likes of which cannot be ignored with it all coming together seamlessly to make for something that one cannot take their eyes off of.

As awesome as it has always been to bask in whatever current glory Heads for the Dead throws our way, what comes next is always on the mind. Heads for the Dead has become the powerhouse of horror death metal without so much as a question in the matter with damn near everything they put out some of the best death metal the given year has to offer and that’s all with these guys putting out great material in many other bands as well. “In the Absence of Faith” is but the continuation of overwhelming dominance that Heads for the Dead has exuded upon the scene for years now, and if the EP has anything to learn from then it’s simply that such a fact is not likely to change anytime soon.

LISTEN to “In the Absence of Faith” on Bandcamp here.

LIKE Heads for the Dead on Facebook here.