Next month, the crushingly heavy Pittsburgh hardcore band Unreal City will release their new album Cruelty Of Heaven. It’s their first new LP in the 13 years since they released their debut Ephemeral Subsistence. A few weeks ago, the band shared their song “War Behind Bars,” the kind of track that makes you want to jackhammer somebody in the skull. Today, they’ve followed that one up with another banger, albeit a banger of a very different sort.
The latest Unreal City song is called “Sin In God’s Name,” and it’s a whole lot more outwardly metal than “War Behind Bars.” Where “War Behind Bars” was a fast-zombie sprint, “Sin In God’s Name” is a slow-zombie lurch. For nearly four minutes — an eternity in hardcore time — the band stretches out a tingly doom-metal riff, going more for ominous atmosphere than for catharsis.
Singer Joseph Sanderson, also of Eternal Sleep, delivers all of “Sin In God’s Name” in a strangulated roar. And halfway through, as howling winds rip through the track, we hear what I’m pretty sure is supposed to be the voice of of Satan, coming through to deliver a verse. (This would be easier to understand if I could make out the lyrics, but this is hardcore; good luck catching more than every third word.) The song fucking rules, and you can hear it below.
Cruelty Of Heaven is out 8/21 on Closed Casket Activities.
