Blackened speed, blackened thrash, old school black metal: Whatever you wanna call it, it’s a style that’s pretty hard to screw up and almost universally enjoyable. In the same breath, it’s also hard to stand out in this genre. What more can be done that wasn’t already perfected by Venom 40 years ago? As jaded as I sound, there have been obvious exceptions. When Venom started losing steam in the mid 80s, Sodom and Bulldozer took charge. When black metal became synonymous with all the clichés of Norway in the 90s, Nifelheim, Aura Noir, and Deströyer 666 were quick to remind us of the genre’s primal roots. And now, when stupidly specific subgenres (and sometimes subgenres within those subgenres) arise damn near daily, Demiser have arrived to chug your whiskey, trash your house, and rain hellfire upon your precious little eardrums.
What’s most impressive about Demiser is that for a band who’s only been around a few years with a couple demos to their name, they play with the precision and fury of seasoned veterans. Their debut album, Through the Gate Eternal, showcases a band armed and ready to unleash pure audio evil. The album’s opening title track really establishes what these guys are about. The riffs are razor sharp. Get too close and you might slice an artery. Occasional blastbeats associated with black metal’s second wave are sandwiched in to fully flesh out the sound. This 50/50 balance between black and thrash reminds me of all the 90s heroes I mentioned in the above paragraph, and is played with the same tenacity of those names as well. Look no further than tracks like “Raw Fucking Vomit” and “Hook and Torment”.
There are then some songs that lean more towards black or thrash metal, as opposed to balancing both equally. For example, “Unholy Sacrifices” is pure black metal insanity. Leave your amateur Watain worship at home kid. Demiser are one of the few bands today who can utilize blasts and tremolo picking without sounding downright boring. On the flip side of the coin are thrashers like “Offering” and “Demiser the Demiser”. “Offering” boasts that evil blackened spirit, but with no shortage of nasty mosh riffs that’ll be bound to get the pit going when shows become a thing again. Meanwhile, there’s something about “Demiser the Demiser” that screams early Sodom, specifically the In the Sign of Evil era. The riffs, the d-beats, the atmosphere: I could listen to this song over and over.
The icing on this disgustingly delicious cake is the proverbial punked out party starters. “Deathstrike” is the first of these, with its dirty motörcharged riffs and crust ridden aura. Considering recent years have seen Toxic Holocaust opting for orthodox thrash metal, and Midnight slowly transitioning to their own raw brand of traditional metal, Demiser could very well be the future of filth. They save the filthiest for last with “Warfuck Demon Lust”. From the riffs to the song title, Cronos, Mantas, and Abaddon would be proud. It’s a full force rager that ends with an extended guitar jam more appropriate of 70s album rock than blackened thrash. It’s all welcome in the ears of this here headbanger.
Whether your preference is black metal, thrash metal, punk, or something in between, I highly recommend you join Demiser Through the Gate Eternal. The future has never been simultaneously more bright and dark for such a band of miscreants.
9 out of 10
Label: Boris Records
Genre: Black/Thrash Metal
For fans of: Aura Noir, Nifelheim, Sodom