If you’ve been following the rise of House by the Cemetary, you already know the deal: this isn’t a studio experiment or genre exercise — it’s a full-scale horror-obsessed death metal engine powered by Mike Hrubovcak (ex-Monstrosity, ex-Vile), eternal riff-warlock Rogga Johansson (Paganizer, Ribspreader), and drummer Thomas Ohlsson (ex–The Project Hate). Today, we’re dropping their entire third full-length, Disturbing the Cenotaph, ahead of its December 12 release through Pulverised Records — 30 filthy minutes of sharpened bone saws, sewer-stench groove, and classic Fulci-drenched death.
True to their moniker, the trio once again burrow deep into the VHS rot of cult horror. Lead-off track ‘New York Ripper’ is a direct nod to Lucio Fulci’s 1982 nastiness, carving things open with a stalking mid-tempo gait and some of Hrubovcak’s most cavernous snarls to date. But the album widens the graveyard gates: ‘Undead Apocalypse’ drags Night of the Living Dead through a modern HM-2 meat grinder, ‘Burial Disturbance’ riffs on Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and elsewhere Hrubovcak spins his own mythology — like ‘Coffin Colony,’ a tale about rabid sewer-dwelling outcasts that’s exactly as vile as it sounds.
Johansson sums it up with the kind of grin you can hear through the riffs: “Every band says their new album is their best, but it’s actually true here, eh eh! This one is House by the Cemetary on steroids.” He’s not wrong. The songwriting is leaner, the guitars gnarlier, the melodies more malicious, and the overall attack gleefully more unhinged than anything they’ve done before. Factor in Håkan Stuvemark’s mixing (Wombbath) and Felipe Mora’s sickly, skin-peeling artwork, and Disturbing the Cenotaph feels like the purest expression of their mission: fast, rotten, violent, fun.
Fans of Bone Gnawer, Gorefest, Six Feet Under, and all flavors of truly old-school death metal will feel right at home among the grave soil.
Spin the full album below — preferably at night, with the lights low, and the basement door slightly ajar.
Disturbing the Cenotaph is out December 12 on CD, LP, and digital via Pulverised Records.
Disturbing The Cenotaph by House By The Cemetary
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The post Full Album Stream: House by the Cemetary – <i>Disturbing the Cenotaph</i> appeared first on Decibel Magazine.