Death Killer may not speak to you, though, if you don’t already dig throbbing industrial music in some way. And I don’t mean old-timey industrial thrashings like the out-played lamentations of 00s Ministry work—though tonally, Total Destruction bears some resemblance. But in its drop-tuned chugging and wildly spiraling beats, the most aggressive elements of Total Destruction resemble classic Slipknot works—Iowa in particular1—backed by a drum machine that has no regard for the kind of rhythms that a human could conjure. In that sense, a thuggish nu element pervades through the kind of groove that Death Killer conjures, but luckily for whiny clean sensitive folks, every vocal line here lives by the industrial manta “distort everything”—nu in spirit but often truly sinister in execution.
As such, Total Destruction hits hardest when it lives by its mission statement in an attempt to be a ruthless, experimental, and punishing industrial album. On high tempo numbers, Death Killer approximates the crazy kick violence of Anaal Nathrakh through an (ironically) traditional heavy metal and black metal lens, providing hooks aplenty against its mechanically-traced rhythms (“You Know Nothing About Metal,” “Nobody Survives (Prophecy)”). Whiffs of its modern attitude run through the pummeling angst of wild industrial pioneers Strapping Young Lad present in the grind to near slam of “I Hate People” and the trap (hip-hop) segue that breaks the martial argument of “Retro = Shit.” And, of course, there’s “SNAKES,” which is an incessantly chuggy and rattling number whose lyrics comprise mostly of the word “SNAKES”—it’s great and everyone needs more snakes in their lives.
But after all of the success that comes at the hands of broken guitar tones and vocals stripped of humanity, Death Killer stumbles over its own lesser industrial leanings along the way. I appreciate that the mind behind this project pulls from the sound of scuzzy electronic albums—think grimy Bong-Ra releases or other break-leaning Köhnen projects like Servants of the Apocalyptic Goat Rave—to let bass patches scrape and rumble against a myriad of weird sampled sounds (“Goodbye, Wilhem,” “Dentist”). These vocal-less tracks have a purpose in their own right, with the steady thump of 70 or so BPM providing the right slower grip for many different gym activities. However, in the context of the shreddier flow that everything else sets up, they take me away from the onslaught of heavy hitting drills and inspired tone metal (“You Know Nothing…,” “I Hate People”). And on a similar note, the dark ambience of the creeping closer “Emotional Life” doesn’t tie off the album in any meaningful way.
Nevertheless, the unique soundscape that Death Killer serves enough with its brief debut to make an impact. Moreso than many other metal niches, the industrial platform doesn’t have many modern torchbearers outside of the then-futuristic, now-dated names of the past. And though Total Destruction of the Entire Universe may not be rewriting the book as controversially as promo speak would imply—including the claim that the crushed yet still spacious DR5 would be the “loudest master of the year”2—Death Killer lays a powerful and rebellious attack that feels honest and, well, groovy. Come for the end of world, stay for snakes.
Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 5 | Format Reviewed: WAV3
Label: Last Day of the North
Website: deathkiller.bandcamp.com
Releases Worldwide: January 19th, 2024
