Although we’ve got roughly halfway to go, I think it’s safe to say the ’20s are shaping up to be a banner decade for blackened speed/thrash/black ‘n’ roll. Bands like Hellripper and Bütcher have dropped full blown modern day classics, and you can always rely on Midnight to strike every other year with a full length platter of “Unholy and Rotten” steel. Another band who must be part of this conversation is Demiser. Rising from the depths of hades in 2021 with their debut full length, Through the Gate Eternal, these South Carolina based devils absolutely dominated the year, making it all the way up to #12 on our “Top 40 Albums of 2021” list, and for good reason.
Not only did Through the Gate Eternal sound straight out of the ’90s blackened thrash underground, but it boasted the freshness and originality of that very scene in its prime. By no means was this a haphazard rehash of metallic clichés gone by. No, this was a hellish offering of ripping blackened thrash with character and originality, boasting riffs that were bound to stay stuck in your head for weeks and months to follow. After a few year absence, I’m thrilled to announce that the same assessment can be made for Demiser’s sophomore album, Slave to the Scythe, which true to its title, is sharply lethal.
For the most part, Slave expands upon the ’90s blackened thrash ethos of its predecessor. This can be heard on cuts like the unrelentingly tough title track, erratically nefarious “Phallomancer the Phallomancer”, and chaotically knuckle-dragging “Total Demise”. Each of these songs graduated from the school of Deströyer 666 with high honors, taking those tropes and bastardizing them into ragers that are bound to take the psyches of headbangers by storm. If Demiser stuck to this approach from start to finish, I’d be more than satisfied, but there are some token outliers abound.
The opening “Feast” and hard driving “Carbureted Speed” channel the band’s love for Venom, Motörhead, and all things fast n’ filthy. The latter boasts riffage that rocks so hard, it puts the majority of today’s wimpified “hard rock” crop to shame with its recklessly sleazy delivery. Also standing out are more ambitious forays like “Hell is Full of Fire” and “In Nomine Baphomet”. While “Hell” features riffing and an arrangement akin to melodic black metal masters Dissection, “In Nomine Baphomet” is an 8+ minute voyage through the underworld, lying closer to straightforward black metal than blackened thrash. Amazingly, even when Demiser do deviate “off course”, so to speak, they never sacrifice the cohesion or flow of the affair, staying true to their blackened hearts.
Far from a rerun of their debut outing, Slave to the Scythe showcases a more wild and unpredictable Demiser, yet still debauchery-driven than ever. Aside from a brief acoustic interlude that serves as a halfway palette cleanse (and even that sounds closer to a panicked run through a nocturnal forest than a walk through the park), this album is all gas, no brakes, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. As unique as they are breakneck, Demiser will possess the eardrums, necks, hearts, and souls of metallists yet again, for you will be enslaved to Slave to the Scythe!
9 out of 10
Label: Blacklight Media
Genre: Black/Thrash Metal
For fans of: Deströyer 666, Nifelheim, Aura Noir