With three fantastic full-length albums and a brutal debut EP under their belt over the last nine years, Philadelphia’s Horrendous have long been darlings of the underground death metal community. Now, with an upcoming fourth LP that tops anything the progressive, innovative band has done before, Horrendous are poised for mainstream metal recognition.

The music on this album, Idol, draws inspiration from both personal and national crises, exploring themes of defeat – or, more specifically, “the gods we build in our minds to escape the responsibility of action and change as we relinquish our agency,” according to the band’s latest press release. Sounds deliciously sacrilege, eh?

Mimicking the act of deity building, Idol is filled with sprawling, tumultuous compositions that mirror the turmoil of modern times. Stand-out tracks include Soothsayer (the album’s first single, originally featured on our American Excess playlist), Golgothan Tongues, and the monumental eight-and-a-half-minute closer Obolus – all of which challenge the boundaries of the death metal genre without sacrificing an ounce of heaviness.

Check out the killer album cover, designed by artist Brian Smith: