Deströyer 666, led by the beautifully-named KK Warslut, releases material at a pretty slow and steady pace (their last release was in 2009). I guess they need all that time to hone their ferocity; 'seven years of rage distilled down to under 40 minutes' is as good a blurb for this album as you could think of. The music hearkens back to the 80's in a lot of ways - a time when obscure metal bands were obscure metal bands, and sang about Satan, getting wasted, violence, and Satan. The 80's vibes are strong here, both in terms of production and songwriting. The title track, in particular, has a chorus straight out of a Venom song. The riffs snap and snarl, with lots of little trills going on and lots of mess. Glorious mess.
Production-wise, the album is raw but not quite nasty. I do have to take issue with some of the mixing here; I feel like the guitar leads get lost in the shuffle on some tracks, particularly the opener 'Traitor'. I get that a lot of the aggression comes from the hacking ax riffs, but it wouldn't kill ya to turn the rhythm guitar down just a lil bit. Also, 'Hymn to Dionysus' feels like a bit of a detour in to paint-by-numbers black metal, with drummer Perracide succumbing to the blast beat temptation, which he valiantly and admirably wards off for the rest of the album.
But these are minor complaints! This is good stuff. The songwriting is more creative than you might expect from a band called Deströyer 666. 'Hounds at ya Back' comes at you with a drinking-song-like chorus near the end that'll get yer foot stompin' (must be the Australian in 'em). The final track, 'Tamam Shud' (name referencing a particularly interesting unsolved mystery, look it up), I think manages to evoke some emotions other than rage. Is that a hint of melancholy I hear? The band even manages to throw in a cool instrumental with 'Artiglio del Diavolo'.
Solid, solid stuff. I wish these guys managed to put out more material; but maybe then it wouldn't be as tight.
4/5
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