Band: Death Worship
Release: 'Extermination Mass' EP (2016)
Musical
supergroups are often best avoided, especially within metal - the clash
of big-haired, perpetual adolescent egos and differing approaches to
their 'art' colliding in a result that is later found in bargain bins
and the also-ran columns of polished turd publications.
However,
due care would be sensible when attempting to lump Death Worship into
the above category. Indeed, while the pedigree of its participants is a
war metal wet dream, comprised of Blasphemy, Conqueror and Revenge
veterans, there's a tangible (and wholly intentional) air of
disdainfulness that wafts about the project, quick to shut down any faux
camaraderie and further dilutions of their 'die-hards only' aural
bedlam.
The
'Exterminaton Mass' EP received a limited edition release at the
Nuclear War Now! Fest Volume 5 in November 2016 to fairly solid critical
acclaim. Though some dissenting voices have considered the release par
for the course for all concerned and questioned its worth, it is
arguable that Death Worship, in a refinement of elements, presents an
approach and sound more bewitching and varied than its better known
forbears.
Of
course, comparisons to Conqueror and Revenge are thoroughly obvious, if
not even a tad lazy - but a band fronted by the likes of R. Förster and
J. Read was only ever going to produce one sound. In a recent
interview, Förster described Death Worship as his interpretation of the
natural progression of that which began with Conqueror, while Read has
done similarly with the unrelenting savagery that is Revenge.
All
ingredients considered, including a backing vocals appearance by
Nocturnal Grave Desecrator and Black Winds (of Blasphemy),
'Extermination Mass' does adhere quite closely to the
Conqueror/Revenge/Axis of Advance (and altogether Canadian) school of
black/death metal, with its militant, precision machine-gun percussion,
distorted diesel engine heaviness, inhuman vocalisations and the odd
unbridled guitar solo.
Don't expect a memorable riff or anything
that really sets one track apart from the others. Much like Revenge,
Death Worship primarily set out to create an atmosphere of unrelenting
attack and hatred, but something that this EP can boast is the welcome
presence of a few well placed, toe-tapping hooks, an element Förster
himself has commented is all too lacking in the output of many
contemporary acts pushing this particular style of metal and
unreservedly influenced by Blasphemy et al.
Though
acts such as Tetragrammacide and Nyogthaeblisz have taken black/death
metal to its most extreme (yet still enjoyable) regions, generally
sounding closer to harsh noise with blast beats, Death Worship's
application of experience, classic structures and injections of an
unflinchingly heavy metal heritage does lend its out-turn a certain
something about which many similar bands remain clueless - with only the
likes of Revenge and New Zealand's Diocletian and Witchrist coming
close to emulating that Conqueror legacy.
Rating: 75%
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