Seven years after Obscene Majesty, I expected Devourment to return eventually. What I didn't expect was a three-song EP that sounds this vicious. Pious Impiety isn't some nostalgic victory lap from one of Slam's founding bands. It's eleven minutes of music from a group that still sounds genuinely ready to burn the whole shithouse down. In a scene overflowing with bands trying to recreate the classic Devourment formula, the original Texas architects—Ruben Rosas, Marvin Ruiz, Dave Spencer, and Brad Fincher—have dropped a reminder that nobody quite does death metal like they do.

The title track wastes absolutely no time. Within seconds, Devourment is locked into the kind of grotesque groove that made them legends in the first place. The slams hit hard, but what stood out to me after a few listens was the riffing underneath all the punishment. There's an ugly, infectious quality to these songs that keeps them from becoming just another exercise in heaviness. "Mortiferous Dependency" might be my favorite track on the release. The band subtly shifts gears throughout the song, creating tension before dropping back into some of the EP's most crushing moments. More than once, I found myself replaying sections before moving on.

"Advanced Stage Decomposition" closes the EP exactly how it should: mean, filthy, and completely uncompromising. By the time it ends, the biggest complaint isn't the quality of the material—it's that there isn't more of it. Seven years is a long wait for eleven minutes of music, but after a few spins, I stopped caring about the runtime. There isn't a wasted second here. Every riff feels deliberate, every slam lands with purpose, and Ruben Rosas sounds as monstrous as ever.

What makes Pious Impiety's importance isn't simply that Devourment is back. It's that they returned with something worth talking about. Too many veteran extreme metal bands survive on reputation. This EP doesn't. It earns its place on its own merits. The production is massive without being sterile, the songwriting feels focused, and the performances have an urgency that many younger bands never achieve. In less than twelve minutes, Devourment has delivered one of the strongest brutal death metal releases of the year and a powerful reminder that influence means very little if you can't still bring the violence.

Fortunately for all of us, Devourment can. The EP can be found here or wherever the best in slam metal is being harvested!