It’s always nice to see bands going ahead with cool concepts and today we bear witness to the all female and indeed feminist driven Death Metal act Castrator. After much chat in years past about the genre being misogynistic it’s a brilliant and well-timed idea. Having formed in 2013 the band went on the release an EP in 2015 titled No Victim and now in 2022 we are gifted their debut full length Defiled In Oblivion through Dark Descent Records.
Dawa Of Yousafzai kicks off the album with a little bit of a sample, but generally doesn’t waste time getting into the Death Metal grit. Hard hitting, heavy, borderline melodic in the riff delivery and vocally striking. The vocals are rooted I would say in more modern Death or even at points Black Metal to create something that stands out very well. Moving forward through the record and into Befoul My Existence it becomes apparent that the direction is somewhat driven by OSDM. However, that wouldn’t be entirely fair as there are certainly a lot of more modern traits, even the production is very much bolstered and in fact there are certain points where the album comes across as BDM. I have to mention as well that the sample at the start of Voices Of Evirato is a perfectly placed little interlude, rather than some long winded ‘aren’t we epic’ style track, minor point but it stands.
Getting into Forsaken And Deprived we’re now very much aware of Castrator and their blend of Death Metal. Partially traditional with a modern twist it’s enjoyable but nothing outstandingly brilliant. In fairness in comparison to a lot of similar bands they’re great, but honestly concept aside it’s a touch generic. There really isn’t all that much more offered up in the second half which hasn’t already been said. The only thing that does jump out is the Venom cover of Countess Bathory. Anyone who knows me will know I’m not the biggest fan of covers. This is no exception, at least it’s tacked on the end of the album, but still I just don’t see the point in this sort of thing.
I sound like I’m being a right miserable git, and in reality I don’t dislike this album, it’s good solid well rounded Death Metal. However, is it the sort of album I’m going to listen to time and time again? No probably not. In essence Castrator come across as the kind of band I’d be excited to see at a festival but not much more than that, good, but not outstanding.
(7/10 George Caley)
Leave a Reply