Godz Ov War Productions – Album Review Round-Up!

Source // Eteritus

Worship Metal recently received a raft of goodies in the post from those kind people over at Godz Ov War Productions….and everything from death metal to black metal to ambient experiments in sound were included!

Here’s our review(s) of exactly what our ears were gleefully battered by:

Starting with the short and decidedly unsweet Demo MMXV by black metallers Pyromancer [7], this screech-fest of raw, unrefined, primal blasting is an ode to the humble beginnings of the genre with elements of early Mayhem, Darkthrone, Sodom and Destruction informing Pyromancer’s barbaric wrath. These guys don’t fuck around and with Demo MMXV clocking in at just 5 songs in under 14 mins expect nothing less than furious sonic blasphemy sent directly from the bowels of hell. The term old-school doesn’t even do this justice, it’s as if the last 30 years never happened!

In contrast, Mussorgski‘s Creatio Cosmicum Bestiae [6] takes an entirely different approach, delivering an ambient, experimental experience via repetition and all manner of technical jiggery-pokery. Transposing elements of industrial metal and black metal to create an other-worldly and cosmic occurrence, this ‘alien’ attempt at metal (if you can call it that) is confusing yet enlightening and while we don’t entirely ‘get it’, we sure do admire the ingenuity at its interstellar core.

On to the death metal! Etiritus‘s full length debut, Following The Ancient Path [8], is a welcome blast of guttural growls, groove and buzzsaw riffs; an old-school Swedish death metal fans wet dream in other words. It’s fair to say that these Polish brutalists can boast a 100% hit rate with an album that never once drops the ball. Channeling Dismember, Obituary and Benediction (that’s Sweden, the U.S and the U.K covered then), Etiritus truly do follow the ancient path and it’s one that’s tried and tested. Try fucking with that!

Serpent Spells and their EP, Mantras Within Ascending Fire [8], set out their stall early with eerily atmospheric gregorian chanting and the crackling sound of roaring fire – conjuring images of medieval torture, witches burning at the stake and fire and brimstone rhetoric in the process – before unleashing merry hell with fearsome black metal brutality. Hailing from Bangladesh, Serpent Skills are not adverse to throwing in some catchy riffing to accompany the blasting and unearthly utterances; a skill that serves the 4 songs found here very well. Interest maintained, heads set permanently to ‘bang’, a winning package overall.

The final black metal bombardment is the most extreme of all with Dakhma‘s Passageways To Daena [4] sadly proving virtually unlistenable. We’re all for extremity but some semblance of a semi-memorable tune would be nice. Instead, this remorseless (and borderline pompous) expression of ‘pure evil’ is tedious at best. Nothing more to be said. Incidentally, this was originally released last year and for once, we’re happy to be behind the times!

Source // Godz Of War