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Rotting Christ - Genesis (2002) - Century Media Records - Kostas

On February 21st, 2020, High Roller Records will reach the ultimate level of diabolic bestiality and release the debut full-length album, "Cursed To The Pyre" from Belgium's deadly thrashers SLAUGHTER MESSIAH, but today we're proud to crush your temple with deadly blow from grim and devastating single, 'From The Tomb Into The Void'.

Of course, the prototypical promo sheet babbles about a more mature style, a big step forward and yada, yada, yada but what can be taken seriously? Indeed, the tracks impress with mature and excellent structures. On the one hand, they celebrate sinister catchiness. Already the opener 'From The Tomb Into The Void' scores with a very memorable chorus. On the other hand, the song patterns avoid the traditional conventions successfully. This homogeneous album does not lack variety, even though the creative wiggle-room of this archaic form of metal is pretty limited. But I see definitely no evolution – and I am absolutely happy about this fact. My simple thought is: why change the best? Already the last two EPs mirrored the outstanding (and ripe) song-writing competence of these harbingers of the Apocalypse. I love to experience this kind of stagnation. Is there anything better than ingenious musicians confirming their abilities, their mentality and their status? Okay, maybe sex with Debbie Harry when she was 35 years old, but I fear no one of us has this opportunity to compare.

The eight songs exceed the 42 minutes mark, but don't worry. They don't lack compactness and come to the point in a matter of seconds. This goes for straight torpedoes like 'The Hammer of Ghouls' as well as for multi-layered pieces such as 'Hideous Affliction'. Slaughter Messiah can be compared with the aforementioned Necrophobic, but they do not just combine black and death metal. A thrashing element haunts through their music as well and regardless of the exact stylistic mix, they unleash five percent more fury than the Swedish role models. Perhaps one can say that Slaughter Messiah connect the black aesthetics of Ketzer's "Satan's Boundaries Unchained" with the monstrous vehemence of Desaster's "Angelwhore". Needless to say, that their sound also reminds me very pleasantly of the brilliant Enthroned debut. Anyway, let's stop the namedropping, because the king of venomous nagging (Lord Sabathan, who else?) and his henchmen stand on their own feet. They do not use blast beats (if we neglect some extremely fast parts in 'Pouring Chaos'), but more or less every other tried and tested ingredient of blackened, thrashing death metal. Profound, effective riffs meet murderously howling solo guitars, well embedded high-pitched screams express pain and (a surprisingly big number of) melodies that Satan himself could not have done better are accompanied by precise drumming and supported by a few atmospheric, almost spiritual sounds every now and then. By the way, all these building blocks benefit from a mighty and infernal production. This pretty transparent yet homicidal mix is simply perfect for this kind of music.

Full review of Slaughter Messiah's "Cursed To The Pyre" can be found here.

SLAUGHTER MESSIAH is:

Lord Sabathan - Vocals/Bass
Rod "Iron Bitch Desecrator" - Guitars
Thomas "Exhumator" - Guitars
John Berry - Drums

MORE INFO AND PRE-ORDERS:

https://www.facebook.com/slaughtermessiah
https://slaughtermessiah.bandcamp.com/
https://www.hrrecords.de/
https://www.facebook.com/hrrecords