Postmortem Promises Rise from the Dead on “Soil Tongue” [2023]

Artist: Postmortem Promises
Single: “Soil Tongue” Featuring Mike Greenwood of AngelMaker

With the recent advent of deathcore—what many are calling the swell of the genre’s “second wave,”—many young bands have been at the spear’s tip when it comes to recapturing the nostalgic late-2000s sound that cemented the subgenre’s place in underground music in the first place. These bands—Tracheotomy, A Winter’s Remorse, Tactosa, Manticore and many more—are all excellent reminders of the reasons we fell in love with the genre in the first place. But you know what’s even better than a young band carrying forth the mantle of gritty, grimy deathcore? Bands that did it 12 years ago still doing it today. Enter Postmortem Promises—a band many “old heads” of the genre are no doubt familiar with. On the band’s self-titled release (circa 2007), they practically permanently established themselves as a stalwart in the scene—a bastion of unending brutality—and now, some fifteen-plus years after the advent of songs like “Yeah Man” and “Koko Massacre,” the band are back with “Soil Tongue,” a scathing four minute demonstration of raw and unrelenting fury.
“Soil Tongue” lives up to its name in the sense that, well, it’s a cunning display of pure filth—but you know, the good kind. Boasting a series of bone-splintering breakdowns woven together by immolating riffs and an overarching atmosphere that can best be described as haunting, “Soil Tongue” is every bit the same Postmortem Promises that brought us iconic moments that became forerunners of modern deathcore—just older, more refined and with a more contemporary mix and master. A collection of dazzling leads draped over devastating percussion with a colossal vocal presence, the real star of Postmortem Promises’ dynamic on “Soil Tongue” is just that—their songwriting ability. There are moments where the vocals absolutely steal the show (with some help by AngelMaker’s Mike Greenwood), and others where the interplay between the fretwork and percussion is nothing short of dazzling (the song’s first breakdown is a standout example). All in all, Postmortem Promises emerged from their decade-plus slumber swinging for the fences, satisfied only with complete evisceration of the listener—and “Soil Tongue” succeeds handily.

For Fans Of: Job for a Cowboy, Bound by Exile, Martyr Defiled, Oceano, AngelMaker, Lorna Shore
Connor Welsh