Hailing from Detroit Rot City, Jesus Wept is one of at least four bands in the United States with that name, but they stand apart from the pack as a so-called “death 'n roll” act. By far their biggest musical influence is death-grind progenitors Carcass, leading to a gruesome, thrashing sound. Across one EP and one full-length, the band has struck a chord within the scene, and has elected to re-up their debut EP Crushing Apartheid, this time known as Apartheid Redux. Swapping out a Smashing Pumpkins cover for a W.A.S.P. cover, and adding two new songs, the resulting redux is a bloody twenty-minute affair full of sludge, attitude, and blasphemy.
“Buried Face Down” has a distinct hardcore and metalcore flavor, akin to groups such as Hatebreed, but with a bit more death growling in the mix. It’s a rocking track, with nods to their death metal and hardcore influences to keep things exciting, and it makes for a great opening song. Things get very grindcore in “Drowning in Holy Water,” a burst of pure chaos diluted into a forty-second portion. Coming barrelling down the midway next is “Hammering the Nails,” with a chug-heavy guitar line and a galloping triplet section for some extra points in the death metal category. The second half of the track gets low and slow for a nasty breakdown and a tap-laden solo to send the track off.
“Jesus in Chains (Father in Hell)” has an Eighties metal composition with a death metal Snapchat filter applied. It’s also worth noting that I was not anticipating a dual guitar harmony on an album like this, but this is the track in which we get one and I’m not mad about it. The mid-tempo swagger and machine-like brutality of “Comfortably Dumb” make it stand above the rest, and the outro solo is another fine surprise. “Fucked on the Cross” is a thrash metal act of blasphemy and I love it. It knows where it came from, it knows who it needs to nod to, and I’m here for it. This is a track which I must caution against listening to around spouses or children, as there are samples that… well, read the title of the song again and do the math.
Closing things out is a cover of that Filthy Fifteen cornerstone itself, the PMRC-enabler that is W.A.S.P.’s “Animal (Fuck Like a Beast).” Beyond the use of death growls, there’s not too much different or surprising about this iteration, but it does serve for a fitting, fist-pumping closer to this death n roll slab, a breath of new life into the corpse of this band’s maiden release.
Apartheid Redux is available now via Redefining Darkness Records.
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