DESTRUKTOR

Australia's DESTRUKTOR may have taken over a decade to release this, their first full-length offering, but the results are most definitely worth the wait. This won't be a long review, because it doesn't take much to sum up what DESTRUKTOR are all about. They deliver fast, simple, precision-tooled black/death metal heavily influenced by "Panzer Division" era MARDUK, with no subtlety, no originality and not one shred of mercy whatsoever. This is music to sandblast all the compassion and sentimentality off your soul, sharply focused and seething with intensity and warlust.

The vocals are a little deeper than the usual black metal shriek, and the production really lays on the thick guitars and low end, giving "Nailed" a powerful, heavy sound even at its fastest and most primal. There are slight hints of subtlety here and there — little extra ride-cymbal hits in "Endless Reign of Terror", the occasional furtive guitar solo — enough to tell you that these guys know exactly what they're doing. They're not ham-fisted morons that just got lucky here; they're as aware of what to leave out of their assault as of what to put in, and their deliberate, focused minimalism only adds to the feeling of drama and dread that they invoke.

These guys remind me a bit of the perpetually underrated VOMITORY, in method if not in sound — that band approaches extreme death metal with an almost punk rock aesthetic, adding nothing superfluous and delivering the bone-basic essentials with ferocious conviction. Though DESTRUKTOR are more aligned with black metal, their approach is the same, and their deceptively simple music is thus profoundly effective. If you like your black metal fast, angry, acid-etched with blasphemous hatred, and utterly devoid of bullshit or filler, then go forth immediately. Another winner for this most discerning and impressive of underground labels.