Chuck Weatherman brings back the sounds and ferocity of Old School Death Metal (OSDM) in the debut ep from King’s Hammer.
Richmond, Virginia may not be geographically close to Florida but the OSDM sounds the Florida death metal scene is known for is all over this ep. Chuck Weatherman (Shovelhead A.D.) wrote, performed and mixed To Speak in Tongues enlisting Seth Metoyer (Mangled Carpenter) for the mastering. Bringing in Seth for the mastering was a solid choice as to my ears King’s Hammer sound and approach to song structure is similar to that of Mangled Carpenter. For me, I prefer more melody in my extreme music as odd as that sounds, and for comparison, bands like Broken Flesh, Burial Extraction, and Hell’s Enemy (also a solo effort) resonate more with me than the relentless crushing and dissonance in King’s Hammer. As for influences, you can hear everything from the bands I’ve mentioned to the legends in the scene like Mortification, Obituary, and Cannibal Corpse to name a few.
To Speak in Tongues opens up with a great, heavy driving riff in “The War in Heaven” and slows down for the opening verse. Vocals are dark, deep growled and Chuck Weatherman has done a great job in the mixing, allowing the bass guitar to come through and keeping the vocal presence felt among the guitars. There is a bit of a groove in this track and in “Wrath Descends” which make them my two favorite tracks on the ep. The near call and response vocal styles in “Wrath Descends” adds to the heaviness of the track driven by guitars.
“Vehement Zeal” was the single released before the ep and has more of a choppy, less melodic feel to it compared to “The War in Heaven” and it seems in general to have bit of thinner sound overall by comparison and that carries through the rest of the ep. The overall sound quality seems to vary a bit track by track at least on Spotify and some of this may be due to the desire to have a rougher more demo-like sound. Despite the changes, however, the quality is excellent throughout from a listening perspective. Blast beats, droning guitar lines, chugging and pounding riffs fill out the track all accompanied by Chuck’s strained, growled, dark vocals. More of the same can be heard in “Crusade IX” while “Witches Bvrn” brings in some groove that offsets the relentless marching, pounding guitars and drums.
As a solo effort, Chuck Weatherman has put together an ep of OSDM that is relentlessly heavy and pulls from a variety of legends in the scene while maintaining its own identity.
Rating: 7/10
Written by John Jackson
Tracklist
1. The War in Heaven
2. Vehement Zeal
3. Wrath Descends
4. Crusade IX
5. Witches Bvrn
Release Date
June 13, 2025
Record Label
Broken Curfew Records/Rottweiler Records
Band Members
Chuck Weatherman – all vocals, instruments
Video for “Vehement Zeal”:
Weblinks
Bandcamp: https://kingshammerbcr.bandcamp.com/album/to-speak-in-tongues
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61576092334771
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kings_hammer_metal
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCF4w3C7pUUDk9d_rxX3Pf-Q