REVIEW: Killing of a sacred deer - encephalic angels [2026]

Artist: Killing of a Sacred Deer

Album: Encephalic Angels

Something I hear a lot of while working in the medical field—especially in the operating room—are the well intentioned jokes from patients and providers alike about deep sedation. “Oh man,” someone will say. “I can’t wait for this, I haven’t slept well in months!” And yeah, it’s funny and a relatively healthy way to cope with having to undergo a daunting surgery or otherwise being in the face of severe illness, but the evidence we have suggests the “rest” gained from deep sedation or pharmacologic coma is anything but restful. Over 80% of one patient population polled in a study reported severe vivid, traumatic dreams more akin to a hostile hallucination than anything else. In over half of those who were sedated for longer than 24 hours, reports of persistent traumatic and unusually vivid dreams were common, sometimes lasting days to weeks. I open with this because the visual and auditory experience of Killing of a Sacred Deer’s Encephalic Angels is what I imagine those dreams must have looked and sounded like. Bizarre and unsettling artwork serves as the jumping-off point for 23 minutes of spastic, jarring and visceral brutality. Following hot on the heels of A Visage of a Mangled Body and Killing of a Sacred Deer, the band’s sophomore LP features a slew of riffs, percussion, breakdowns and vocal patterns that can be perhaps best described as psychotic—but this isn’t really new for Killing of a Sacred Deer. What is new? A refined and more thorough and thought-out approach to songwriting, making Encephalic Angels the band’s most fluid record yet without skimping on the skull-splitting insanity.

From the moment the haunting sample at the beginning of “A Congealed Miasma” segues into bruising, pummeling percussion and frantic fretwork through the final crushing chugs of “12.7mm from Death,” Killing of a Sacred Deer steep the listener in near-tangible levels of frenzied intensity. The front half of the album is stacked high with classic Sacred Deer antics, but raised to a new standard. “A Congealed Miasma” and “Of Melded Flesh” continue the same schizophrenic salvo of off-the-wall riffs and breakdowns chunky enough to qualify for a GLP-1. Where the approach to glitchy, spastic deathcore remains the same, there exists a greater degree of nuance and fluidity, especially on the aforementioned songs and “Cerebral Data Extraction.” Here, rather than an arrangement of insane riffs and immolating breakdowns designed to hit as hard and as fast as possible, each song bears more structure and form, feeling deliberate and intentional at every turn. “Cerebral Data Extraction” is perhaps the best example of this, where the shorter cuts like “..you will know them by their eyes” and “TERRORPHAGE” are a break-slew of all-you-can-handle heaviness. As Encephalic Angels continues, the listener is thrust into new territory for Killing of a Sacred Deer in the form of “Cognitive Reconfiguration Procedure”—a more ethereal and bleak cut that mashes mach-speed percussion into dissonant guitar and bass punctuated with the altogether rare segue into gargantuan breakdown. Lead single and title track “Encephalic Angels” follows this trend—not necessarily towards ethereality but towards new ground for the rollicking deathcore outfit. Here, the breakneck transitions and glitchy guitar work are stepped up tenfold, with a stronger and more direct lean into hardcore and metalcore territories over the more usual deathcore fare. This is only transient, however, as the album is capped off by “12.7mm from Death,” an earnest and dripping slab of deathcore that feels as rooted in the PSYCHO-FRAME universe as it does the Killing of a Sacred Deer-verse.

If the instrumentation throughout Encephalic Angels is psychotic, then the vocal element throughout the release is doubly so. Colter Cuthbertson continues to highlight his outstanding dynamism and energy throughout the entirety of Killing of a Sacred Deer’s latest installment, this time accompanied by several outstanding guest vocalist, each of whom add something incredible to the experience that is Encephalic Angels. Nick Chance (Beautiful Child of God, Distinguisher) dominates through his contributions on “Of Melded Flesh,” where Mike Sugars (PSYCHO-FRAME, Church Tongue, Vatican) ups the ante on Frame worship on “12.7mm from Death,” not to mention the fromjoy infusion on the record’s cybernetic lead single. While these features are all stand-outs and do exactly what a vocal feature should do on a song, Cuthbertson’s performance throughout Encephalic Angels is immense to a point where the guest appearances are truly just icing on an already stacked cake. Frenzied screams and shouts throughout “Cerebral Data Extraction” hook into the listener’s ears with razor-sharp barbs, while pained, dismal screams make “Cognitive Reconfiguration Procedure” the unique track that it is.

On one hand, Encephalic Angels is definitely a Killing of a Sacred Deer record in that it packs all the fare one has come to expect and adore from the band. ADHD-tinted segues from spazzy fretwork to crushing breakdowns, samples aplenty, unsettling visual imagery and top-notch production all appear in spades. On the other, Killing of a Sacred Deer have undergone some refinement. Where previous efforts feel disjointed and thrive in chaos, Encephalic Angels feels more intentional and fluid at every turn—and has a longer average track length by almost a half minute, and who can be mad at more material from one of deathcore’s most prolific and inventive newcomers? Encephalic Angels is not just Killing of a Sacred Deer’s best album in terms of structure, but in terms of sheer content, as it boasts what I’d consider to be at least three of their five bests songs—but what’s more? Encephalic Angels stands as a frontrunner for the best deathcore release (and overall release) of 2026.

9.5/10

For Fans Of: PSYCHO-FRAME, Serration, Chamber, Beneath the Massacre, Fromjoy

By: Connor Welsh