In my review of the last Thulsa Doom effort, the 2018 Realms of Hatred EP, I noted a thrashy death metal sound with early-style harsh vocals. With their first full-length album, A Fate Worse Than Death, this Italian band has cast off the thrash remnants in their sound and embraced pummeling death metal in all its glory. The album moves from one bruising number to the next, accosting your ears with venomous barks, leaden riffs, and the squeals of tortured guitars. It isn't an all-out speed fest, and the title track is a creepy instrumental, so while there is an overall brutality, there's also some variation in terms of tempo, atmosphere, etc. but I don't hear a lot of distinction between songs. They might not be as distinctive as they could be, but there's no doubt Thulsa Doom lay down the death metal hot and heavy.
