Description:
Originally released by Prosthetic Records in 2012, “Sedition” showcases HOUR OF PENANCE at their most relentless, delivering some of the fastest and most crushing death metal ever recorded. The album cont ains nine tracks that highlight the band's intense and signature blend of apocalyptic soundscapes. A powerful and epic opus, it also marks, in hindsight, a reflection of the grandiose and increasingly technical direction death metal was taking at the time. Hour Of Penance is a technical/brutal death metal outfit formed in 1999, widely considered as one of the most intense and talented representatives of the genre to emerge from Italy. The band needed three albums to surpass its local character and transfor m humble beginnings into international recognition, followed by massive touring with bands as Cannibal Corpse, The Black Dahlia Murder, Devildriver, Misery Index, Nile, Behemoth or Krisiun. Hour Of Penance’s early output accounted for one demo and two stud io albums, “Distrubance” and “Pageantry for Martyrs”. They were released in 2003 and 2005, respectively, under the Spanish label Xtreem Music. The first breakthrough came three years later with “The Vile Conception”. The installment took a more brutal appr oach characterized by complex riffage, fast paced vocals and even faster percussion work, that was later refined on the album “Paradogma” (2010). By that time Hour Of Penance has switched Xtreem Music to Unique Leader Records, and later Prosthetic Records, taking its contracts overseas. An extreme record followed by extremely good press, “Paradogma” hit the spot with a grain of melody and a blackened character. The record was followed by extensive North American touring with Deicide, and first of two appear ances of Hour Of Penance at the French Hellfest festival. Not only that, both “The Vile Conception” and “Paradogma” set the sonic foundations for future releases to built upon, and are nowadays lauded amongst the band’s classis. The next albums, “Sedition” (2012) and “Regicide” (2014), prolonged positive press feedback and secured the band’s touring trend, seeing it traverse even farther than before, across Europe, USA, Canada, Australia and Asia, on various tours with Cannibal Corpse, Misery Index, Fleshgo d Apocalypse, Septicflesh and Behemoth. With the release of “Cast the First Stone” (2017) - which can be described as crushing death metal performed at hyper speed - the group moved to Agonia Records and continued to push death metal to its extremes on “Mi sotheism” (2019); both in studio and on the road. The proximity of the album entailed a streak of festival appearances, including Brutal Assault (with Suffocation, Opeth, Emperor), Incineration Festival (with Rotting Christ, Taake, Abbath), Metaldays Festi val (with Akerocke, Dimmu Borgir, Dream Theater) or Eindhoven Metal Meeting (with Paradise Lost, Bloodbath, Alcest) to name a few. Its latest installment, "Devotion", coming out April 5th 2024, whilst tailored for hyper speeds and untamed brutality, doesn' t shy away from perceptive social metaphors in its dark imaginary and lyrics.