Antonis Kalamoutsos After seven years, Spearhead from UK strike back with their 4th album and it’s fair to say that, serving death metal since 2005, the band sounds like they have by now all the talent and experience required to establish themselves as a real underground force. And why not further than that?

Everything about Pacifism is Cowardice lives and breathes death metal. To be more precise, a very violent and battle-ready kind of death metal that is dedicated to a war-loving and nihilistic aura, sonically and lyrically. Their sound is sharp and aggressive built mainly in mid-range frequencies and not in blurry lows. Most of the time, the music is very intense and ultra-fast (thanks to the highly-skilled, neurotic drumming) but make no mistake, it’s the guitars that rule Spearhead’s sonic universe. Direct, wild, ferocious riffs and solos, straight out from the ever-present tradition of Morbid Angel and the likes. Personally, I enjoy very much the few mid-tempo riffs and I would like to hear a bit more of them as they sound really delicious.

There are no big surprises in the album's flow as the band seems like not having second thoughts regarding their song patterns. Despite this, I have to point out that the industrial elements of “Duellorum” and “Hyperanthropos” are wisely placed and add an extra element to the already “threatening” character of their music. While their personality is already strong enough, I really think that if such industrial/noise elements were to be used within “normal” tracks, their style would become a bit more personal and juicy. Having said all the above, I regard “Wolves of the Krypteia, We” as the album’s highlight with a totally classic intro riff and a delightful progression.

Pacifism is Cowardice, starting even from the title, seems to distill individualistic ideas and a philosophy of power and supremacy. Now, I know that in art everyone is free, artistic messages can be just role playing and that extreme forms of art may carry extreme thesis but I have to remark that this proud individualism, the Nietzschean references and the gunned image of the band may be innocent or just part of the role but it may also be something more. Living in dangerous social times, one must be cautious of these things, artists and fans equally. Though this fact has a negative weight on me personally, I am not considering it further in this review, keeping it focused in music.

Spearhead deliver their thunderous music with pure extremity and passion and I think that any death metal fan will appreciate their style, their sound and their performance. Truly and undoubtedly mastering their craft, they keep forging that old path of classic 90s death as genuine purists. Expanding their sound in order to attract some of the outsiders may not be the case for them and while it is not necessary, I believe that they would be seriously good at it!

Another very good album in a very competitive year for death metal, definitely not for the faint hearted.

Vehemency Furious and militant black / death metal, yeah yeah, all too seen area. Spearhead is one of those rather recent acts that don’t much, or in this case at all, care for sweet and calmful melodic passages; instead, this is pure war. And while the result of an album-lenght of mere savage violence can often end up being a very tiresome listening experience, this band’s third full-length Theomachia hits the right spots and does not sound dull at all.

The key to the album’s success is how damn tightly they execute their instruments in relatively fast speeds, not unlike Impiety. If we want to drop more names, Morbid Angel and Angelcorpse are another names worth mentioning here, as those bands’ fans will most likely enjoy what they hear on Theomachia, an album full of ass kicking and chaotic riffage - with the exceptions of the brief interlude ”Praesagium” and the last track ”Aftermath” with its focus on discordant atmosphere. What comes to the uniqueness of the album’s compositional work, well, there’s not really any of that. But in a case like Theomachia, which deliberately feasts on primitive death / black metal ideas initiated twenty years ago already, it does not matter.

Due to its ultimately unsurprising nature, I can’t say Theomachia is a true masterpiece, but in its category a real treat anyhow. Production-wise, the album sounds sharp and crisp, a necessity for a violent effort like this. There’s no need to go much further into specific details of tracks; all that needs to be said at this point is that this war machine is a recommendable album for the fans of the groups mentioned in the paragraph above. I doubt they’d be disappointed.