Cloven Hoof isn’t the only band I haven’t checked out since 2020. The same can be said for The Troops of Doom, and I’m not sure why considering how much I enjoyed their debut EP, The Rise of Heresy. For those in need of a bit of a refresher, the band’s moniker is no coincidence. The Troops of Doom were formed by none other than former Sepultura guitarist Jairo Tormentor, best known for his contributions to the band’s earliest releases, Bestial Devastation (1985) and Morbid Visions (1986). In the years since we last explored the ToD (for lazy abbreviation purposes), they’ve released another EP (2021’s The Absence of Light) and a full length album (2022’s Antichrist Reborn).
A Mass to the Grotesque is their second album, but don’t go looking for any serious maturation or deviation to their core sound, because there is none. True to their mission, the ToD keep it simple and old school, unleashing the kind of bestial death/thrash that first put Sepultura on the international metal map nearly 40 years ago. It lies somewhere between a throwback and a continuation of what once was. It’s a throwback in the sense that it sounds straight out of the era its attempting to channel, and a continuation in the sense that this is what could’ve been for Sepultura: Skulking about the Brazilian metal underground with the likes of Sarcófago and Sextrash as opposed to, well, the band who made Roots.
From the opening “Chapels of the Unholy”, the Troops get right down to business with a barrage of violent riffage, an up front rhythm section (something that’s crucial for this type of metal), and an all around bestial aura. This is further emphasized by a stripped back production and the eerily Max Cavalera circa ’86-esque vocals of Alex Kafer. From here, the band continues to brutalize us with breakneck devastators like “Dawn of Mefisto”, “Faithless Requiem”, and “Terror Inheritance”. One can draw the occasional comparisons to such acts like Kreator and Sodom, but at the end of the day, it’s that era that’s being expanded upon, so zero surprise there.
Another key similarity to these aforementioned old days is the incorporation of evil riffs and passages, giving certain songs a stronger blackened edge than others. Cuts like “The Imposter King” and “The Grotesque” instantly come to mind, chaotically blurring the line between first wave black metal and death metal in its embryonic stages. These blackened leanings are further expanded on “Blood Upon the Throne” and “Venomous Creed”, both of which boast those lumbering Hellhammer/Celtic Frost riffs that were oh so influential on Sepultura in their youth.
Is Mass of the same caliber as Bestial Devastation and Morbid Devastation? No. Is it of the same vein? Yes, and that alone should be enough to make the bullets on your belt stand at attention. I’ll gladly take this over any Sepultura album released in the past 35+ years, even if it does tend to become one dimensional in parts. Again, it sure beats tribal drumming, turntable scritch scratches, two note guitar riffs, and whatever the fuck this is.
7 out of 10
Label: Alma Mater Records
Genre: Death/Thrash Metal
For fans of: Sepultura, Possessed, Kreator