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Finally! Accursed Spawn sure have made us wait for this first full-length album. They released the Bhopal '84 single nearly a year ago and it hinted at good things for this album, and good things are what the band have delivered with The Virulent Host.

The songs are busy. In a good way. It's death metal, so you can of course expect speed, pounding drums, heavy, razor-sharp guitars, growled vocals (mostly decipherable), the works. What makes The Virulent Host fun and interesting to listen to is how much they have going on "behind the scenes". More often than not you'll find the guitars doing something a little bit more intricate in the background—something you can easily miss if you're not paying close attention—and this really gives the songs another dimension. It can be a guitar going on a speedfest of its own or kicking it down a notch for a little bit of melody. I missed most of that on my first couple of listens because I wasn't really paying attention.

The Virulent Host one of those albums on which you discover something new on a regular basis, which helps keep it fresh. Mind you, even if it weren't for that, just the "basic" death metal elements in here slay like there's no tomorrow and there's more than enough here to fuck yourself up trying to headbang to it for 41 minutes. One hell of a debut and one that sets expectations high for the next album. Oops!