Artist: DeadToThisWorld
Title: Sacrifice
Type: Mini-Album
Label: Soulseller Records
A colleague of mine recently spoke of Niklas Kvarforth being a ‘whore’ of black metal; having recently brought out a compilation of all the bands/projects he has been involved with over the past 15 years it dawned on us all that he’s certainly done a fine job of spreading his seed across the scene. While not quite as high-profile, the same could be said for Iscariah. The main-man behind DeadToThisWorld has been in more bands than I’ve had hot dinners, to use a well-worn and rather cringe-worthy phrase, including Necrophagia, Immortal and Raven’s Creed to name a few. With DeadToThisWorld he stated that he never wanted to rush his releases, and he kept to his word with it taking 5 years to put out their debut back in 2007, and now 4 years on they follow up with this mini-album.
This is very much in a similar vein to 2007 release ‘First Strike For Spiritual Renewance’. It’s a 25-minute blast of necro-thrashing mayhem that will satisfy those of you who want to bang your head and salute that old ruddy bastard below simultaneously. After a brief intro, ‘Satan’s Storm’ comes thundering in and unleashes a torrential downpour of enraged drumbeats and buzzsaw riffage that gnaws away at the speakers. There are some really solid riffs and melodies on this release, and the chorus on this track is one example as it really manages to hook me in. ‘Sacrifice’ is the best track on here; it strikes with a filth-riddled air of menace that sounds instantly familiar; kind of somewhere in-between Watain and Kreator. It ploughs forth with a really mean, threatening riff and a vocal rasp that sounds truly evil.
The pace slows down on ‘Death Courageous’ which is more of a brooding mid-paced romp. It has an ominous feel to this one due to that thick ambience and blackened riffs. The groovy drum-pattern on ‘The Malefice’ drives things along with verve; this one is actually a Pentagram cover which I didn’t recognise myself and they have done a nice job making it their own. The musicianship can’t be faulted here and Iscariah and co. have crafted a solid and enjoyable mini-album here. It’s not going to reinvent the black-thrash genre, but it’s definitely worth checking out. (7/10, Luci Herbert)
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