The band name and album title give no doubt that this is a blackened death death work. The band in question is from Turkey and this is their first full album release following an EP “Perversion Feeds Our Force” in 2016.
My first impression was of a thrashing heavy assault. Oodles of brutality and aggression mark the violent “Pillars of Dismay”. The blazing wall of noise eliminates any thoughts of cleanliness. It’s fast, dirty, growly and instrumentally loud. At eleven minutes, you sense that the title track “Towards the Ultimate Extinction” is going to be a major affair, and it is. The thrashing devastation and destruction continues. The sheer chaos and turbulence recall Marduk, a bit of Impaled Nazarene and a particular favourite of mine Impiety. Of course eleven minutes of pure thrash wouldn’t work, and indeed midway through “Towards the Ultimate Extinction”, it slows down and a deathly dirge follows a few words from the devil. The fire restarts, and the explosion of drum, guitar and vocal work resumes its course of devastation. The echoing blackness roars through the vigorous “Till Relentless Salvation Comes”. It’s a riot of forward-driving chaos. Distant cries and deep growls resound in the furious but happily melodic carnage. The chorus makes this into a form of thrash-black hardcore. This whole album is the depiction of ruinous landscapes, wastelands, burning embers and devastation. “Along the Infernal Hallways” blasts on relentlessly, casting all asunder. It slows down but it’s no less dark or putrid. The guitar plays a creepy line, and echoing voices convey death and destruction before the breathless end. The more I listened, the more I equated this to all-out war. It’s Endstille without the tanks. Is there no end to this violence? Well, apparently not as “Awakening the Depraved Era seems faster, harder and more extreme than ever. Yet the razor-edge riff lines hold together and along with manic drumming, help to keep this most pulsating of albums driving forward to the goal of destruction. Here and there a solo appears, as it does on “Hegemony of the Ruinous Impurity”, but it never gets in the way of the remorseless and thrash-laden juggernaut. The title of the last track sums it all up really: “Maelstroms of Antireligious Chaos”. Rarely has chaos been so pulsating.
From the outset, you know where you stand with this. Persecutory hold nothing back. To their great credit, there’s no stopping for breath or delicate subtlety. In fact it is sophisticated while never compromising on its extremity. Sheer energy and carnage fall out of this appropriately-titled album. I reckon Persecutory would be a blast live, but for now this recording will do. “Towards The Ultimate Extinction” is well worth a listen and will brings demons into your life or blow them apart, as is your preference.
(9/10 Andrew Doherty)
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