Review Summary: GET READY FOR WAR
War metal is a nice little niche in the black/death metal scenes made for bands that seem to go that extra mile to create an apocalyptic atmosphere to combine with blasphemous black and/or death metal. Pioneered by Blasphemy in the late 80s, there have been TONS of bands trying to emulate that exact sound. And while none of these bands have been able to completely replicate the greatness of Blasphemy, some have come close, mainly a band like Australia’s Destroyer 666. The sound is still going strong in 2024 and Abhorration’s debut LP
Demonolatry is another solid slab of war metal proving that the genre still has its luster in this day and age.
This album is chock full of fantastic riffs and that's obviously the main draw to any death metal album. Not much melody to be found here so if that’s more your style, I’d advise you to look elsewhere. Fans of the 2010s output by bands such as Azarath with their lightning fast and punishing riffage, or Antedilvian with their dark and muddy production, will more than likely find comfort in jamming
Demonolatry. 95% of this album is full of unadulterated, thunderous riffs that rain down upon you like baseball sized hail in a storm. Riff after riff after riff comes at you like Usain Bolt running towards the finish line at the Olympics. It never stops and THAT is really all you need in a death metal album in 2024…right?
Well that is mainly right. The only real gripe I have with this album is in the production. Don’t get me wrong, the muddiness of this album is one of its biggest strengths but also ends up being one of its minor downfalls as well. I personally wish the drums were higher in the mix. Yes the riffage still brings that war metal vibe, making you feel as if you’re in the midst of some sort of Satanic battle, but man I wish the drums had more of an impact. They’re well executed and all, but they just are too low in the mix to be as prevalent as they damn well should be. The blasts aren’t as powerful as they are on a similar album such as Adversarial’s
All Idols Fall Before the Hammer, with the PING PING PINGing of the snare and just the overall effect it has on said album. I know we’re not comparing, but it's hard not to with similar albums of the same genre. Vocals are pretty much what you’d expect. Gnarly shrieks and phlegm-like gutturals that are extremely well done and another positive aspect to the album as a whole.
I think Abhorration is on the verge of something special. If they work some of the production kinks out they could very well have a masterpiece lingering in their future. For only being a debut album,
Demonolatry definitely does its job. Now its about taking that next step. Will Abhorration do that? Or will they linger in the “very good but something missing” category? Only time will tell. But for now, fans of death or black metal should find plenty to enjoy about their debut.
