Review by Alex on February 4, 2020.

Only recently I had the chance to review Void Rot’s debut demo, a record I thought was unjustly overlooked due to the immobilizing grip Spectral Voice had within the underground. You mentioned the words death/doom in these walks and Spectral Voice was if not the first to fall from someone’s tongue they were among the bunch. Atavisma is pure genius if you think about what they did with their debut album The Chthonic Rituals in 2018. Yet again an album I thought was not given the credit it deserved due to so much happening at the time, so most eyes and ears were already preoccupied with the more headline events. However, the stars would align and the two nefarious entities would meet, together exercising the strengths of their woven craft thus forming this 6 headed beast of a split due out on everlasting spew February 7th, 2020.

If you're not yet familiar with the venomous ways of Atavisma then you need to be if you intend on surviving the gravitational density of their instrumental and vocal structure. Opening with 'Speared Lungs', Atavisma bellows from the deepest depths in foul fashion, gargling the acidious bile and chunks of amputated autonomies. Spread across 3:45 of unconquerable, unquarantined void spillage, the beast that is Atavisma reactivates the spells of The Chthonic Rituals this time with exponential effect as their benevolence for the dark grows to unimaginable magnitudes. Hearing those the growling bowels unearth frequencies un-suppressible that'd only echo through supporting emanations of 'Mould Upheaval' and 'Dread' while the plundering ritual drumming and screeching strings shape the extraterrestrial matter, a blackened absence of awareness contaminates the consciousness in de-fertilization.

Blossoming from the smothered soil, a seed spreading pestilence and plague, Void Rot makes use of the corrupt compost with 'Ritual Invocation' continuing their spiritual tyranny activated on 2018's "Consumed by Oblivion" 'Ancient Seed' and concluded with 'Celestial Plague'. Like defeating some unholy deity only to discover there-in this creature lies another more powerful, vilification of its former self. Void Rot strings together the menacing howls and thunderous bursts to sacrifice them before swarming riffs fulfilling the desire of its output. Still striding with an ambient and rhythmic elegance distinctively marking the band, ‘Necrotic Deity’ breathes feverishly as Void Rot’s best song to date with punctuation. Safe to say, the quartet has fiddled and fondled with their practice to the point of establishing a definite sound, groove and tempo as a principle of theirs. With the finalized face of the beast revealed ‘Accursed Earth’ puts into motion the now developed weapon and with startling results.

With such a colossal sound Atavisma and Void Rot make you feel like the tiniest speck of dust lost and forgotten to a universe of nothingness on this split. Both bands put their better hand at work have in-turn formulated one of the heaviest split death/doom records of the new year thus far.

Rating: 8.4 out of 10

Review by Greg on July 17, 2024.

Let's just take a second to appreciate the artwork. You would expect a scenario like this from an emergent German metal band in '84, or maybe coupled with a darker take on Scandinavian Europower, but I bet you're not thinking about the debut effort of a black/thrash outfit from China, of all places, right? Endless Witchcraft is, indeed, the first full-length of Demonslaught 666, a youngish outfit from the second-most populous country in the world.

Now, I've surely said several times that blackened thrash is a good time more often than not (exception made for Night Slasher's s/t, but hopefully I'll re-evaluate it too with time), and Endless Witchcraft does not confute the argument. Granted, it might not be the most visionary album you'll come across in 2024, it lacks a bit of memorability like Hellripper or UK's Devastator are masters at, the drums of A New Machine – yep, that's the dude's pseudonym – seem to know only one tempo (and you can safely guess which one), but dude, their name is fucking DEMONSLAUGHT 666, what the hell are you even asking for? Now that I think about it, I'm moderately disappointed they didn't manage to find a way to sneak an umlaut somewhere. There's still work to do, guys...

Nonetheless, there are a couple of deviations from the norm, above all 'Evil Hammer Force', which incredibly slows down at some point, delivering the only refrain that sticks out somehow – although it arguably helps that I can't for the life of me fathom what song it was lifted from, so my overall positive impression is safe, for now. I also feared the worst after spotting the mandatory 6-min closer, which however attempts only a lone minute of buildup before going back to the (Dem)onslaught, offering the album's strongest riffs (even if I particularly liked the bass-driven verses for some reason) and wrapping up Endless Witchcraft on its highest note, coming after the almost as good title-track and its loud as all hell gang shouts (sadly underutilized elsewhere) and the blasting 'Unspeakable Evil'.

There's plenty of things to like even on the less distinct numbers, starting from the powerful production, slightly modern drums aside (even if the frequent tom fills à la "Pleasure To Kill" were kinda funny), to Paravoid's vocals, taken straight out of the Athenar school, heavily echoed and mostly unintelligible, but strong nonetheless. He sometimes tries to accent a line with some squeaky yowls (not unlike what Darren Funk attempted on the latest Slave Agent), only that it feels so random that I can't help but picture somebody periodically poking him with a needle on his cheek during the recording sessions. Comical effect guaranteed, but it's no huge deal at the end of the day. I'm rather curious about the lyrics, since I expected top tier Engrish from an album of this ilk, but they don't seem to be available at the moment. Solos are totally optional, and I can't act disappointed with this many surprising riffs (check after the solo in 'Phantom Witch' for my absolute favourite one), but they're also far from offensive whenever they appear, although mostly courtesy of guest musicians.

Honestly, I'm happy to say I liked Endless Witchcraft more than Hellish Expectations, to say – more ferocious, and less conveying the impression of a quick jam session caught on tape. Although I can't rule out the possibility that my judgement might have been influenced by my total and utter lack of expectations, as throughout my whole first listen I was constantly waiting for the inevitable ugly riff to pop up, which, to my delight, never happened (save for the inexplicably cacophonic refrain of 'Banshee' where the members seem to channel their inner Captain Beefhearts and end up sounding like they're going each their own way), at the end, what Demonslaught 666 offers is simply a good, passionate album with a particularly strong ending streak. I don't have much more to ask from it.

Rating: 7.6 out of 10