DESPISED ICON

Purgatory NUCLEAR BLAST

Montreal’s beatdown specialists hit peak form

The deathcore pioneers’ second album since reforming in 2014, Purgatory is designed to smash your face in. There’s always been something delicious ignorant about Despised Icon’s blend of Neanderthal grooves and blitzkrieg blasting, but there are several moments on their sixth album that take the lobotomised biscuit; the title track’s opening riff is a steamroller of atonal hate, while Light Speed boasts one of the most heroically yobbish breakdowns you’ll ever hear. But beneath their undeniable mastery of deathcore’s rudimentary tropes, Despised Icon have upped their game here; while Beast only boasted a couple of nailed-on anthems, Purgatory is full of the damn things. Everything from the rotten hulk of Slow Burning to the all-out Armageddon of closer Dead Weight boasts at least one moment that will make you want to throw a chair at someone’s head. ■■■■■■■■■■

FOR FANS OF: Ingested, Hatebreed, Whitechapel DOM LAWSON