Hailing from the Catalan heartlands of Spain, Blackened Thrash merchants Körgull The Exterminator are all about that initial thrash sound. Taking their name from a Voivod track and citing influences such as Venom, Voivod, Slayer, Kreator, Posessed, Destruction and Sodom to name but a few, Körgull are every bit as intense as they are loud. The female fronted four piece have been kicking round since 2008 and “Rebirth From The Ashes” is their fourth effort. Let’s see if they’re like a phoenix then.
From the off, the sinister sounding sample of flames crackling adds to the symbolism from the album’s title and this being the title track helps play into that. Ambient samples of voices and screams help build up the atmosphere before a monstrous roar brings in a colossal thrash metal sound. Lightening quick, played at blistering pace, the dark thrash riffs really take firm hold and when the vocals kick in you can see the black metal influences. A slightly more melodic version of Mayhem’s Deathcrush era vocals over rapid guitar which treads the line between Immortal and Destruction, it is a slice of primal raw power.
From here on, ‘Rebirth From The Ashes’ has a very similar sound to every track. Raw and harsh vocals which at times possess a demonic quality to them, very unexpected given that it is a female fronted band but as the past two years have shown, with the likes of Cripper and Nervosa, the ladies can do just as good, if not better than the men in this genre sometimes. Thunderous basslines and relentless double-kick and blasting drums provide the crushing backdrop for the blitzkrieg like approach from the riffs and leads, giving it a sound which seems to bring the best of early 80’s thrash and early 90’s extreme metal together for one unholy combination.
“Hatred Rules Again” plays more on the early thrash sound with the NWOBHM edge to it whilst “Warriors Of The Night” is more grim and frostbitten in its sound and delivery and the cover of “Take This Torch” by Canadian thrash legends Razor sounds even more intense than the original, bringing some modern grimness and heaviness to the cult classic speed metal track. In all, this is a solid album but nothing really jumps out from it in terms of being intriguing. It has the great Thrash sound and the atmosphere and intensity of Black metal, but with all its ferocity it just doesn’t excite me as much as this combination of genres should do.
In all, it is thrash for those who like their metal dark and miserable and on the other side of the coin, it is dark and miserable for those thrashers who don’t like to delve further along the extreme spectrum. It’s worth a listen, but it just isn’t for me.
(6/10 Fraggle)
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