I was first exposed to Detroit filthmongers Perversion this past January, when they opened up a show at Reggies in Chicago for Pentagram Chile. I wasn’t completely taken back by their crude display of late 80s extreme metal worship, at least not from a technical standpoint, but I enjoyed them enough that I made a note to explore their back catalog and keep an eye out for subsequent releases. Fast forward roughly 9 months later and said “subsequent release” is here in the form of their latest full length offering, Dies Irae.
For those who like their extreme metal on the chaotic, barbaric, and flat out unhinged side of things, Perversion is the band for you. Despite hailing from Detroit, you’d be forgiven for thinking they were raised in the jungles of Brazil, or a Canadian tundra, or perhaps even a desolate wasteland within Australia. I wouldn’t go so far to call them “war metal”, but their savage amalgamation of black, death, and thrash metal owes a debt to the genre’s forefathers, many of which hailed from these faraway lands (i.e. Sarcófago, Blasphemy, Sadistik Exekution).
Dies Irae appropriately opens with a snippet of the Verdi piece of the same name before descending into insanity. “Bhagavad Genocide” kicks things off proper, establishing the general formula for this album. The riffs are blackened, the aggression is deadly, and it’s all delivered at thrashing speed. Of course, some songs emphasize certain facets more so than others, but this is the cornerstone of Dies Irae and Perversion as a band for that matter. The pummeling “Migration into Darkness” and diabolical “Axioms of Domination”, the latter of which comes off as To Mega Therion era Celtic Frost meets Bestial Devastation era Sepultura, are stellar examples of what this band is all about.
Yet despite the black/death/thrash mish mash being their general M.O., Perversion are at their strongest when they fully embrace their blackened tendencies. Take for example the punishingly intense “Fathomless Cruelty”, which showcases black metal before it got typecast as a Norwegian phenomenon. The rotten assault that is the aptly titled “Barbaric Execution” does so as well, as does the short and anything but sweet “Possessed”, which is a ripping rendition of the Bathory classic off The Return…… (1985). However, nothing comes close to the scuzzy blackened epic that is “Unveiling the Primordial Revelation”, which takes a page out of the Venom circa At War with Satan playbook.
Much like when I saw Perversion live, there is nothing overly impressive about them on record. Their songwriting is as straightforward as their playing; perhaps bordering on overbearing in its simplistic manner, yet an abundant feast for those with an appetite for hellish riffage and cacophonous rage. If you’re looking to throw your friend a curveball when compiling your next “first wave of black metal” or “80s death metal” mixtape (You DO still make mixtapes…right?), be sure to add a track off Dies Irae and watch their reaction. If they drunkenly mumble, “I don’t remember this Sarcófago song.”, then mission accomplished.
6 out of 10
Label: Hells Headbangers Records
Genre: Black/Death/Thrash Metal
For fans of: Sarcófago, Vomitor, early Sepultura