The Swedish Melodic Death Metal legends, Hypocrisy, have returned, after eight years, with two new singles (and music videos) off their upcoming new album, Worship (Nuclear Blast), due to be released in November 2021. 

When we last left off with Hypocrisy, it was 2013 and the release of End of Disclosure (Nuclear Blast). The mastermind of Hypocrisy, Peter Tagtgren (vocals, guitars), has covered a lot of ground in the lyrical content over the years – Back in the day, it was Death, dying, and suffering; then it moved to aliens, abductions, and visitations. In 2013, his attention turned to conspiracies for End of Disclosure, with aliens, elitism, secret societies, world governments, and the like. So far, judging from the two singles released from Worship, Tagtgren has focused in on these topics, and narrowed the view for effect. 

“Chemical Whore,” the first single released off of Worship, is a banger! Classic Hypocrisy – the trademark Hypocrisy sound, combining Death Metal, melodies and harmonies, with multiple different voices, and layered over a sort-of environmental Black Metal sound. The lyrical content puts Big Pharma on blast, accusing it of enticing, controlling, and (ultimately) destroying the human race. The Worship theme of the album can be seen in the official video for “Chemical Whore.” Tagtgren, in the video, represents Big Pharma as he is seen as a priest, serving The Sacraments, to the congregation. The Sacraments are pharmaceutical drugs, the vehicle of worship, and the congregation is overdosing, as seen in the last scenes of the video. It is an intense and striking image. 

“Dead World” follows along with the same theme of Worship, though with a different view of the events. The official video expresses the thought with the familiar Zombie imagery. The video suggests that humanity is in it’s death throws as a condition of our dependence on Big Pharma. The video ends with a word tagged on a blood-soaked wall – Hypocrisy. I think this suggests Tagtgren’s view of the situation, those who are enlisted to help humanity are actually killing it. The song is a bit different, not really melodious, but more straight Death Metal, with familiar sounding riffs, under Tagtgren’s rumbling, raspy gutterals. 

I really like the singles and am excited to hear the whole record! Worship is due to be dropped on November 26, 2021 by Nuclear Blast.

Stay Metal,

THE SAW