Destroyer 666

Scythian – Hubris In Excelsis Review

Scythian – Hubris In Excelsis Review

“Vrath has fingerprints all over the place, so I suppose it’s not much of a surprise it’s taken nearly six years for us to get Hubris In Excelsis, Scythian’s long-awaited sophomore album. Working in earnest since around 2012, Vrath stated it was his intent to absolutely destroy the debut, but To Those was a beast of an album – death-thrash that was primal, huge in scope, and savagely catchy.” Six years in the making? What does he think this is, a funeral doom project!

Destruktor – Opprobrium Review

Destruktor – Opprobrium Review

“For those who like scorching deserts, scantily-clad temptresses, and animals that will poison you and then rip your face right off, look no further than the land down under. Hell? Close – Australia. It’s no surprise such a rugged environment has given rise to filthy bands that blur the lines between thrash, black, and death: Nocturnal Graves, Denouncement Pyre, Innsmouth, and the almighty Deströyer 666. Of perhaps lesser profile – though no less quality – is Victoria’s Destruktor.” Former penal colonies make the best metal.

Abominator – Evil Proclaimed Review

Abominator – Evil Proclaimed Review

“Satan-hailing, long-standing Aussies Abominator are back after nine years of hiatus with yet another record of their signature blackened death (or deathened black?) metal. If you’ve listened to any of the band’s previous releases, it won’t come as much of a surprise that their fifth full-length Evil Proclaimed shows no shifts in pace, attitude, or sound.” The Motorhead of Sodom clones? I’m in!

Thrall – Aokigahara Jukai Review

Thrall – Aokigahara Jukai Review

“Aussie black metal is unchartered territory for me, but if not, why not, right! From my early judgments, it doesn’t appear that black metal dominates or has the Aussie metal scene on its knees cowering in fear of the Dark Lord’s return, but certainly a few names lit a fire and I suppose you could say, spiked my interest. Ruin’s Place Of No Pity kicked off my grim journey of discovery, delivering mighty appealing song structures and evolvingly doomy interludes. Gospel Of The Horns followed suit with ex members of Bestial Warlust making up their dank mix and finally, Deströyer 666’s Phoenix Rising hit all kinds of home. Their brand of blackened death-thrash can only be described as packed to to the hilt with truly bestial riffing and it set the bar and my expectations sky high for Thrall.” Join Madam X as she throws another blackened band on the barbie in her analysis of Australia’s own Thrall.

Assaulter – Boundless Review

Assaulter – Boundless Review

An extreme metal super-group from down under? Intriguing eh mates? Assaulter is a slightly blackened thrash band featuring S. Berserker, formerly of Destroyer 666 on guitar, bass and vocals and Peter Hunt, formerly of Razor of Occam on drums. For the Australian extreme metal scene that’s pretty super indeed. Boundless is their second album under this moniker and it’s a hefty slice of good old fashioned thrashing lunacy with enough black metal and Middle Eastern influences to make them stand out from the likes of Legion of the Damned and their modern thrash brethren. After never hearing of these guys before, this impressed me enough that I felt compelled to track down the debut as well and I feel on solid ground saying they’re onto something here sound wise. It’s not reinventing the blackened thrash wheel or doing anything truly revolutionary but this is still some solidly ugly, brutal stuff and well executed at that.