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DESASTER ‘Angelwhore’ Metal Blade (2005)
It is funny how, years after the huge rivalry with my childhood friends began over which side of the Atlantic created the best extreme music bands, it is once again a German outfit which has managed to prove both to me and to them, that I had every right to pledge my allegiance to bands from the old continent. The majority of the American bands either turned to a more melodic or punk/hardcore musical direction, whereas most of their European counterparts continued to deliver extreme metal releases, the importance of which was great in terms of providing "new blood" in the underground extreme metal scene. One of the bands that has been offering a valuable service to this scene for the last seventeen years, is the German Black/Thrash outfit Desaster.
Even though I would love to be able to say how I was one of the first few people who bought their 1993 demo "The Fog of Avalon" and how well acquainted I am with their past releases, that is unfortunately not the case. My accidental initiation took place a year and a half ago, during one of my visits to Ireland. My reason for being in the beautiful city of Dublin, was to see Primordial, who sere opening for the German quartet. After their set was over, and since the rest of my fellow-travellers had already decided to stay, I ordered a pint of Guinness and found a good spot from which I witnessed the one and a half hour extreme metal onslaught that was imposed ton the unsuspecting Celtic audience. Combining the furiousness of Black with the energy and vibe of Thrash, it took only a couple of seconds before the first heads began banging and minutes before the poor venue was turned upside down - a great show indeed, and I...well, I was already hooked...
Since that day, I managed to see the band once again supporting my fellow-countrymen Rotting Christ and the feelings were again the same. You understand that I was more than pleased when I heard that Metal Blade records decided to offer this outfit a contract, and really happy to find out that a promo copy of their latest release "Angelwhore" was waiting on my doorstep a few days ago. The fact that Desaster moved to a big label like Metal Blade didn't seem to have made them lose their focus both in terms of sound/atmosphere and song-writing. These four musicians always took great pride in being a Black Metal band, regardless of the fact that their music is constantly flirting with 80's Thrash metal, and "Angelwhore" is a product of that successful mixture.
I want to make it clear from the very beginning that there is not a single bad song in this release. On the other hand, it is really strange how the only negative thing that I can say about this release derives from the existence of breathtaking compositions like "The Blessed Pestilence", "Angelwhore", Conqueror's Supermacy" and "Nihilistic Overture". The majority of these compositions are featured in the first half of the album, and that unfortunately doesn't work in its best interest.
If you manage to put that small detail behind you and you allow yourself to simply enjoy the Slayeric ("Show no Mercy"/"Hell Awaits" era) guitar riffs of "Angelwhore", the powerful vibe and the simply breathtaking bass guitar break of "The Blessed Pestilence", and the band's tribute to Exodus in "Nihilistic Overture", you will also realise how different “Angelwhore” is to all those releases for those so-called extreme metal bands whose songs dominate the “metal” charts nowadays!
Extra credit should be given to the band for the very fitting production which was achieved at the ToxoMusic studios, as well as to Sataniac for delivering some of the best and quite varied brutal vocals that I have heard in ages. The members of Desaster have every reason to feel proud for having released this album – now, it’s up to us to decide whether we want to invest in a good extreme metal release, or allow the suit and tie executives from the big record labels to decide on our behalf what extreme metal music should sound like. I say, take the matter in your own hands, guys and girls – it’s our music, not theirs!
****½
Review by John Stefanis
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