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HOUSE BY THE CEMETARY
Disturbing The Cenotaph

Pulverised (2025)
Rating: 5.5/10

Horror-obsessed death metal ensues as House By The Cemetary – obviously influenced by legendary Italian horror director Lucio Fulci – release their latest instalment of butchery. Hot on the scabby heels of 2024’s The Mortuary Hauntings, Rogga Johansson (guitar and bass), Mike Hrubovcak (vocals), and Thomas Ohlsson (drums) carve out another enjoyable if somewhat generic lump of gristle.

If you’re familiar know with Johansson’s works then you’ll enjoy his catchy riffs, but being probably the busiest man in death metal doesn’t come without its problems. The harsh reality is that Johansson, while very much a respected musician in his field, rarely delivers anything that blows me away. This is solid death metal for sure, but it’s not something I’ll return to in spite of the welcoming grit of Hrubovcak’s sneers.

‘Island Of The Dead’ is compact and tidy but without impact, and the same could be said for ‘New York Ripper’ and ‘Massive Cadaver Resurrection’, both being up-tempo riff-driven killing machines which have the lasting effect of cheap chewing gum. However, when the trio dig their heels in then you receive a real treat in the form of ‘Undead Apocalypse’. This is the style I’d like the band to explore with something that’s more slower, grimier and far more atmospheric than the archetypal gushes and flurries.

‘Lunatic Butcher’, based on the real life crimes of killer Paul John Knowles, does bring further mid-paced snarling, but such grisly episodes are too few and far between. A majority of what is offered here sums up the Johansson brand, and while songs such as ‘Phantom Intrusions’, ‘Burial Disturbance’ and ‘Coffin Colony’ are decent, they don’t get me drooling, and yet still Rogga’s signature moves rush at the listener like another tiresome episode of the television series The Walking Dead.

Neither boggy nor brutal, House By The Cemetery is more bog standard housing complex rather than remote creepy mansion.

Neil Arnold

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