In the late 90s I had a zine called Aural Armageddon. One of the first bands to send me a demo to review was Malta’s Beheaded. One listen to their Souldead demo and I knew this band was going to do big things with their mix of melody and brutality. Shortly thereafter they released their debut full length offering Perpetual Mockery on X-treme Records and I, along with many of my friends back then were completely blown away by the album.

Over time I became pretty good friends with members of the band and they started sending me rough rehearsal demo versions of the material they were planning to record for their follow up EP and I was convinced it was going to be one of the best releases of 1999. Unfortunately, the band parted ways with talented vocalist Marcel Scalpello and replaced him with the rather dull Lawrence Joyce. To my ears it was the equivalent of replacing Lord Worm with Mike DiSalvo and the promo the updated line-up recorded (which was later officially released as Resurgence Of Oblivion) just failed to keep my interest because I was such a huge fan of Scalpello’s varied vocal approach and Lawrence just couldn’t match the intensity of Marcel’s unique vocal style. It also didn’t help that the band was departing from the technical melodically brutal approach and going for a more direct brutal assault.

Due to "musical differences", namely me not liking the material on Resurgence Of Oblivion and Recounts Of Disembodiment and members of Beheaded feeling slightly butt hurt because I was no longer their biggest fan I lost touch with the guys in the band and completely bypassed their latest full length offering Ominous Bloodline until two years after it’s release. A few weeks ago I came across the album in a local music store and, remembering how much I used to like them I figured I’d at least support my old friends by buying their latest album. After giving it a few spins, I’m really glad I did.

The first thing I noticed when flipping through the booklet is that Beheaded have long parted ways with guitarist David Bugeja and vocalist Lawrence Joyce, replacing them with Achaean Harmony shredder Chris Mintoff and vocalist Melchior Borg. Upon listening to the material the new and improved line-up recorded I was floored just as much as I was the first time I heard Souldead and Perpetual Mockery. While Borg doesn’t have the vocal range of Scalpello he has the raspy power to compensate, giving a Frank Mullen-like performance throughout the album’s 9 tracks.

The dual guitar assault of Omar Grech and Mintoff is among the more impressive in brutal death metal combining wicked riffs with technical precision, putting them on par with recent performances by Terrence Hobbs and Guy Marchais. The bass lines of David "Cejca" Cachia and blasting beats of Chris Brincat are as solid as ever and help give Beheaded their heaviest and most ultra fucking brutal aural assault to date.

Throughout the time I was good friends with the guys in Beheaded they always told me their goal was to record something as heavy, fast, technical and brutal as Suffocation and with Ominous Bloodline they did just that. If you’re a fan of crushing technically brutal and catchy New York-flavored death metal, then this is definitely an album you need to add to your collection. I’m definitely impressed, congrats you tree climbing, coconut smashing, feces flinging Maltese motherfuckers! Haq alla!

Written By: Teufel