Review by Felix on December 8, 2023.

I own a physical copy of “Procession of Souls”, but it seems as if Deathgeist’s album from 2019, simply called “666”, is almost only available in digital form in my homeland. Younger generations probably have no problem with this fact, nevertheless, in my humble opinion a digital form is no form at all. On the other hand, the album is disfigured with a terribly executed artwork and the motif itself is also pretty dubious.

Either way, “666” is musically a very solid offering. The eight regular tracks after the somewhat pointless intro mirror spontaneity, energy and force. The Brazilians do not think too much, they just play and their performance indicates that they like what they do. All songs achieve a good level, there is no slowly advancing loss of quality as the album progresses. Okay, I must admit that “666” does not score with opulence, it clocks in at 31 minutes. But a short infusion with good thrash is better than a quantitatively fat release with some mediocre songs. Deathgeist avoid tiring compositions successfully. Their form of thrash evokes memories. It brings us back to the early days of this style without sounding antiquated.

The songs possess sharp riffs, they can rely on a good flow wuíthout abrupt or inadequate breaks and the lead singer seems to worship Schmier’s vocal performance. His voice reminds me of Destruction’s front man, although his typical high-pitched screams do not occur here. Nevertheless, the famous early albums from Destruction have worked as an inspiration for the guys from South America. The liveliness of “Infernal Overkill” or “Eternal Devastation” is not missing here, although Deathgeist do not fully achieve the degree of ferocity which made these works so impressive. Maybe this is inter alia due to the production. It does not suffer from severe mistakes, but five or ten percent more pressure would have been fine.

All songs spread similar veins and run more or less in the same vein, but this does not mean that the song-writing of the band is formulaic or predictable. The band has just found its way of proceeding and every now and then they vary their sound slightly. For example, the strong beginning of “Returning to Sodom” stands out, before the band channels the energy of this track. It is not easy to mention outstanding highlights, because there are none. Yes, the title track makes a lot of fun, but it does not stand out in the context with the other songs. Perhaps exactly this fact underlines that this album is recommendable. If only it would be available in a physical form.

Rating: 7.6 out of 10