"If you like your death metal to sound old-school like Asphyx, Bolt Thrower, Dismember or Bloodbath, check this shit out"
- Metal Injection
metalinjection.net/av/new-music/cleric-maw-of-absolution-stream
"The band’s sound is nothing short of Scandinavian-bred fury cultivated through un-repenting, Americanized death metal. The album’s nine tracks are pure carnage, and no one is left in their wake. (Side note: check out the killer cover art by Jason Barnett [Petrification, Power Trip])"
- New Noise Magazine
newnoisemagazine.com/premiere-cleric-all-death-unseeing/
"Texas based Cleric bring even more filthiness with their second full length of classic sounding Swe/Fin/Dutch inspired death metal"
- Nine Circles
ninecircles.co/2019/10/21/initial-descent-october-20-26-2019/
"...this is a filthy, dirty disc full of delicious, honest, old school scrap metal death metal. Recommended!"
- Lords of Metal
arrowlordsofmetal.nl/cleric-serpent-psalms/
"Serpent Psalms is as expansive as it is chaotic, an amalgam of sheer brutality and dark melodies that set a landscape of despair and anxiety."
- Permafrost Today
permafrost.today/2019/10/07/cleric-fire-breathing-hm-2-death-metal-juggernaut/
"Among the brutal music there are passages of harmony, the typical harmony that brings balance within the musical chaos thanks to the Sludge that manages to be present along with the doom sparks."
- RTMB Music
rtmbmusic.com/reviews/3869/cleric-serpent-psalms
Unrepentant and ceaseless, Cleric march forth with malevolent and malicious intent marking you for an early exit to the after life. Serpent Psalms is a wicked and devilish record, one that steals your life leaving you as nothing more than a husk. Warping, destructive, brain skewering, menacing, terrorizing and so many more descriptors can be used to understand this release. The fact remains that Serpent Psalms is a truly anvil heavy, skull sheering effort that will worm its way into your brain and manifest itself there for quite some time.
- Cadaver Garden
cadavergarden.com/2019/10/23/cleric-serpent-psalms/
"The familiarity here for those of us with tastes for the old school and mid-tempo infectious silliness is undeniable. This is worship at the altar of both HM2 and the early 90’s British death scene. Above and beyond that this offers little touches (synth interludes hinting at cosmic/foreign landscapes, as well a fluidity which hard to deny) which add to the homage keeping the attention and plenty of groove passages to make one want to take this from wired headphones to blue tooth or even a speaker system setup which the neighbors will more than likely hate you for, but it’s worth it. Boasting a seething dirge nature complemented by riffs and rhythms which are difficult to ignore this, though not altogether ground-breaking, is a release which demands further attention and might well male one take a trip down nostalgia brutal ville to revisit that which is most probably collecting dust. Highly Recommended, but be prepared for the limbs to move of their own volition."
- Cult Metal Fix
cultmetalflix.wordpress.com/2019/10/16/abrasive-audio-to-soothe-the-senses-part-thirty/
Cleric was officially born in 2007 as a fuzz laden three piece by John Schiller (bass), Zach Jobin (drums), and Chris Richardson (guitar/vocals). The band began to shift gears sometime in 2008 with the addition of Andrew Hawkins (Baring Teeth). What once started as an innocent Doom project in 2007 quickly transformed into a fire-breathing HM-2 death metal juggernaut a year later. Heavily influenced by Death Metal legends, Asphyx and Bolt Thrower, the band recorded a demo and soon after recruited Zac Christian (vocals).
In 2013, the band released their debut full length, Gratum Inferno, on Tofu Carnage Records to critical acclaim. A year later, Andrew Hawkins exited the band and was replaced by Cody Tatum. With the addition of Cody, the band began work on their second full length album, Serpent Psalms. Serpent Psalms is as expansive as it is chaotic, an amalgam of sheer brutality and dark melodies that set a landscape of terror and despair. With the completion of Serpent Psalms, Cody Tatum and John Schiller had left the band and Ben Cooper (guitar) and Todd Thompson (bass) were enlisted to solidify the current line up as it stands today.
released October 25, 2019
Recorded by Garry Brents
GAB Recordings 2018
Zac Christian | Vocals
Chris Richardson | Guitar
Cody Tatum | Guitar
John Schiller | Bass
Zach Jobin | Drums
Mastered by Chris Richardson
Artwork by Jason Barnett
Photograph by Kathleen Kennedy
Layout by Rai Wolters