ALBUM REVIEW: Deiquisitor – Apotheosis

One of my favourite bands of the Danish Death Metal underground is DEIQUISITOR. Thankfully they are back to present us a new album via Night Shroud Records and Extremely Rotten Productions on January 20th.

Discordant guitars enter, serving us an introduction of decaying gristle as the constantly mental drumming joins. Bestial and rampant with fury, it is to be appreciated how quickly they cut to business with utterly devastating extremity blasting straight to life. In my opinion, Deiquisitor have one of the best sounds in Death Metal with unique riffs and possibly the best underground drummer around, those elements meet monstrous vocals and create a force to be reckoned with. Never disappointing, the earlier moments of “Apotheosis” churn out the vilest chasms of music that feel bottomless and yet claustrophobic, like an encircling abyss of morbid horrors. With very present bass often coming through with a rumbling and clunky sound, these nuances feel genuinely old school and timeless. The fills and placement of riff changes are really jarring but in an intentional and cool way that feels volatile and frighteningly tense rather than clumsy. This coupled with the murkily dark yet crushing and sharp production values convey what is, always has been and always will be Deiquisitor’s signature sound of desolate, ferocious and disquieting Death Metal supremacy.

Occasional moments of gloom serenade us with funereal atmospherics before rupturing the air with malignant, tumorous and warped bouts of blasting percussion that hammers the skull while contorting riffs convulse between the opened cracks. In fact, the rhythmic battery across the board has always been a huge draw for this band, giving their music a relentless and unforgiving approach. Absolutely not for the faint of heart, or those who may be effected by a sonic strobe effect of caustic brutality. If you find yourself trapped in the soundscapes, prepare for scornful and scathing vocals to incur more panic as the musical diabolism rips the ground out from under your feet. This sadistic method of crafting songs harkens back to the likes of Imprecation, Sadistic Intent, Morbid Angel and Immolation but with a certain flare entirely of their own that mixes the dissonant, even blackened, flavour into bestial Death Metal so effectively. This concocts an evocatively malodorous feeling of pure rage that taps into the primal spirit yet doing so with clever and inventive music rather than basic and dull repetition. Like a zoetrope of death and decay, “Apotheosis” will disorient and reorganise in the most terrifying manner possible.

Blending those divinely ugly and yet carefully curated musical abominations is truly an art that it feels Deiquisitor have mastered over the very active decade they have existed. Perhaps their regular release schedule can be thanked, as clearly their songwriting chops have been fine-tuned and run like a well-oiled machine of tight musical abilities working very closely together. Although a very natural feeling is conveyed in the playing that doesn’t feel over-produced or characterless. Additionally it is obvious that the band rehearse their material to a very high quality threshold before hitting record which allows the organic but very urgent and hard-hitting execution to be truly brilliant. Right to the last, we are given track after track of utterly devastating music that couldn’t possibly feel more intense. While a very obvious signature sound has been achieved, Deiquisitor do not regurgitate the same idea over and over. No, we can hear a huge development that results in some of their most furious pieces of sonic carnage to date.

Is the title apt? Is this indeed the “Apotheosis” of Deiquisitor’s music thus far? It is hard to rank, as all of their records have been killer. But definitely here we see a truly masterful achievement from the band thus far. I do not feel it is my place to say where it would fall into something as subjective as a ranking, but I can certainly say this is a near-perfect cut of truly magnificent Death Metal.