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HEDONIST
Scapulimancy

Southern Lord Recordings (2025)
Rating: 8/10

According to the not always reliable Wikipedia, “scapulimancy” is “the practice of divination by use of scapulae or speal bones (shoulder blades)”. A rather obscurely fascinating name for an album then, the first by Canadian death metal act Hedonist.

This Victoria, British Columbia-based combo released their debut demo, Sepulchral Lamentations, four years ago, but this full-length sees the band really finding its feet among the debris of war. Delivering ten reasonably short songs for a total duration of 36 minutes, Hedonist leave quite the trail of destruction.

I see this sort of crust-coated war metal appealing to those who still salivate over Bolt Thrower. However, while the music trudges through ash, the vocals of bassist AJ boast more of a contemporary edge, particularly on the snappier songs like ‘Cremator’. She has a high-reaching, throat-scraping scowl to her style alongside a deeper spew. On ‘Abominated Void’ I refuse to believe the vocals are of human origin such is their throaty menace.

The posse is also adept at throwing together some truly sniping, thrashier moments alongside crushing riffs. Again I refer to ‘Abominated Void’ as well as the hammering title track. Guitarists JP and AA construct monstrous, feral chords awash with congealed ash as the formidable drums of CB, and bass of AJ rumble as declarations of war. The ferocious roars of ‘Heresy’ and the savagery of ‘Barbarian’ encapsulate the grinding ethos of this clan. Tracks are lethally injected into the bloodstream of the listener as gritty Brit-styled dollops of rust.

Hedonist bristles with attitude and edge filtered through oxidized gauze whereby songs such as ‘Engines Of War’ choke on their own thick plumes, initially almost traditional metal in its measured opening and then loping with devastating stamps of the drum. The percussion kicks even harder on ‘Profanation’, another world war riot that reduces its audience to a pile of charred bones.

I saw a band photo of these guys where they were standing in front of a tank. Pretty apt when one considers how this record annihilates.

Neil Arnold

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