ALBUM REVIEW: DEVOURED BY PERVERSION BY SLAUGHTERCULT

Reviewed by Steph Ure

Release date: 25 September 2026

Slaughtercult has signed with Vicious Instinct Records and released their sophomore full-length album, Devoured By Perversion, and boy is it delicious. The brutal death metal three-piece band from Sydney, Australia made up of Jed on lead guitar and vocals, Sean on bass and vocals and Matt on drums provide a steady, cohesive and high energy album.

A band that clearly knows its skills and understands its sound but still enjoys playing and discovering new ways to explore and expand their capabilities. What impressed me most was the balance between the three musicians. Across eleven tracks, each member is given moments to shine, yet nobody seems interested in overpowering the other band members. Instead, their individual technical abilities continually strengthen the collective sound.

Starting strong and pushing hard, “Birthing Ceremony” combines guttural vocals with intense, skilful drum rhythms, balanced by comparatively softer guitar riffs that give the track room to breathe. The hero is the interplay between the drums and guitar. As the instrumental section takes over, the riffs and rhythms play off one another beautifully, showcasing the technical ability behind the heaviness without either instrument fighting for attention.

“Repulsed By Your Haggard Appearance” again puts the instruments ahead of the vocals, allowing the music to tell the story while the vocals provide support.
The three musicians intertwine their skills in a way that feels cohesive while still allowing their individual abilities to shine. It becomes one of the album’s emerging strengths: nobody needs to overpower anyone else to be noticed. The phenomenal instrumental ending leaves the musicianship firmly at the forefront.

“Perverse Bestial Lactation” — feat. Marvin Ruiz of Devourment opens with a particularly unhinged voiceover. You immediately know you’re in for something feral, in the best possible way. The heaviest track on the album so far, the bass and lead guitarist play with phenomenal riff control and rhythms, while the vocals demonstrate impressive control and provide some much-needed light and shade against the relentless instrumentation. Around the two-minute mark, we are gifted with a guitar solo that would make Jimi Hendrix perk his ears up from the grave in excitement. A final guttural vocal and abrupt ending finish the track exactly as brutally as it began.

Beginning with Slaughtercult’s signature instrumental introduction, “Horrible Cunt”, drums take centre stage while the guitar provides support. Precision timing combines with interesting use of offbeat rhythms before the verse enters around the 40-second mark. Halfway through, a guitar lick practically cleanses the ears, creating a moment of anticipation before the next verse arrives. The vocals then drop into a lower register for the remainder of the track, adding another dynamic layer to the sound.

There’s phenomenal use of light and shade within “Menstrual Marinade” featuring Elfi Davis of Kraanium, with the instrumentation creating dynamics that highlight rather than compete with the intensity of the vocals. The vocal timing begins playing directly against the drum beats while the guitar provides a more melodic background. Those three elements working together create one of my favourite musical moments of the entire album. This was the part of the album where Slaughtercult successfully managed to make the feminist metal bang her little head in absolute delight. Make of that what you will.

“Steeped In Fungal Discharge” is heavy metal how it used to be, but with Slaughtercult’s signature flair and unusual ability to make vocals and instrumentation operate cohesively rather than simply piling heaviness on top of heaviness. It’s straightforward brutality delivered by musicians who understand exactly how to make that brutality work to their musical advantage.

Beginning with a slower instrumental and a long, low guttural vocal, “Pools of Bile” shifts the spotlight firmly onto the vocals. They’re delivered with intensity and a different but extremely satisfying rhythmic quality, giving the track its own identity within the record. A song where the intensity remains high from start to finish.

Carrying the energy of the previous track forward, “Intravenous Acuphagia” absolutely demolishes with a guitar riff that remains steady and feral throughout most of the song.
It’s supported by the band’s signature drum offbeats and low-register, high-energy vocals before the guitar unexpectedly changes direction toward the end. After conditioning your ears to that relentless central riff, the sudden change is an unexpected little treat.

My favourite track of the album, “Strong Poison” retains the intensity and energy established across the album while providing something slightly different that I genuinely can’t put my finger on. Is it the subtle change in tempo? The increased vocal intensity and feral feeling of that final scream? Is it the ridiculous technical ability on guitar? I don’t know. I just thoroughly dug it, and it became the highlight of the album for me from the very first note.

A hard guitar opening supported by drums launches track ten, “Molotov Cocktease”, but what really stood out was how perfectly it demonstrates one of the album’s greatest strengths. Across Devoured By Perversion, every instrument and every member gets their opportunity to shine without overpowering the others. Instead, they seem to highlight each other’s individual skillsets, giving the record a level of musical integrity that could easily be lost underneath this much deliberate brutality.

Tempo changes instinctively tell your body when to slow down and pay attention to the musicianship before speeding back up and giving you permission for a feral headbang. For a queer feminist, I probably shouldn’t have enjoyed this song quite as much as I did. However, “Molotov Cocktease” will absolutely be added to my angry girl playlist as soon as it is released.

Finishing the album with “Soft Foetal Malformation”, a voiceover opens the final track and once again you get a sense you’re in for something lightly unhinged before the band launches into what may be the heaviest song on the album. It’s loud, brutal, hectic and chaotic and somehow perfectly matches its title. It’s the type of song you know shouldn’t work; there’s so much happening that it shouldn’t feel this cohesive, and yet somehow something that could easily become musical noise is transformed into genius.

The guitar is brutally feral, while the drums and the vocals rise to meet its energy. It finishes solidly with my favourite ending of any track on the record and closes Devoured By Perversion on a disgustingly good note. Pun absolutely intended.

Slaughtercult surprised me with the upgrade in musical integrity, technical skill and cohesion since their independently released first album, Meat Head. You can hear the technical growth within the music and yet their signature style is still recognisable.

The band also somehow made this queer feminist headbang with absolute feral joy to a song called “Menstrual Marinade”. While I will probably be processing that moment for weeks to come, what I won’t be processing is the musicianship of the band’s sophomore album. Would recommend and will recommend to all my friends (just maybe not my mum!).