ALBUM REVIEW: Deathhammer – Crimson Dawn

Norway’s primeval blackened thrash metal maniacs Deathhammer return with their sixth album. Set for release via Hells Headbangers on August 29th.

Eerie synths begin our descent into darkness and evil with a strong 80s presence. Giving way to militant drums, the tension builds before a thrashing volcanic outburst begins. Sergeant Salsten’s maniacal vocals and his shared riffing with Sadomancer who also provides waves of insane drums met by blistering leads. Usually each member tends to play guitar on the songs they wrote, but this is more of a mixture which I think adds an even more chaotic flow to the tracks for the better. The total destruction is delivered with malice and force, playing at inhuman speeds with that classic raw edge that the band has mastered from day one. The cutting tom fills and ravenous storms of speed metal furore are unbreakable, delivering total hell as the howling fury of blasphemous lyrics flows with endless pain. Commanding both melody in the truest sense of heavy metal with total rage and animalism; Deathhammer rip you apart but in a way that will keep you coming back for more. The beginnings of this album will surely have your body electrified and held in place for the beating of a lifetime… and you’ll love it, ya sick bastard!

Keeping up insane speeds and always moving forward with total conviction; there is no lack of dynamics on this album but most importantly the venomous delivery never gets lazy or lethargic. Also for such a raw energy, the band manage to play impeccably without losing the tight execution of the songs. Cranking up the evil and lust for destruction every riff, solo, drum part and vocal is precise and lethal in its own right. Cutting like razors and burning like lasers, Deathhammer is a band who go from strength to strength and just when you think the energy has reached its peak, they blow the roof off their own song and launch you into the stratosphere to bask in the glory of the Devil’s music. Adding these almost cinematic touches to songs like “Nocturnal Windz of Fire” which feels like the band took the ideas of Manowar and Bathory then merged them with the likes of Iron Angel… simply sublime. This is absolutely everything I want to hear in a release of this sort. It also proves that despite having such a strong sonic identity, the duo do not wish to just keep feeding us the same album, but dare to run with their ideas into the darkness of new crypts, catacombs and other unholy sites. Burn with the evil masters in hell or be thrown into the pits of wimps for eternal damnation.

From the moments of barbed wire riffing ripping your flesh asunder to the bass-fronted speed metal sections of total obliterating madness or the sodomising grooves; Deathhammer have a wide palette of traditional influences mixed into their own formula that shows no mercy while keeping things constantly exhilarating and full of adrenaline. This is exactly what a proper heavy metal band does in this day and age, we already have all the ingredients we need for the genre but mixing them together in a macabre potion of your own is essential when so many bands concoct lacklustre impotence that holds little merit. Thankfully we have bands like Deathhammer who inject danger and passion into their music in such large doses you cannot resist the overdriven possession as it takes hold of your mortal form. Right ’til the end “Crimson Dawn” will have all those true and pure in their passion for metal utterly bewildered by its infernal majestic evilness and glory. This is some of the bands best work to date, which in such a flawlessly excellent discography is truly saying something…

Deathhammer is my favourite thrash metal band to form since the 1980s. Every single record proves a passionate force of total morbid worship from the duo and this is no different. Despite this, all of their new songs always have a fresh feeling and a ton of energy which ensures infinite replay value. I never tire of anything the band has done and “Crimson Dawn” is another triumphant offering that shows the true thrasher spirit unbound, wild and extremely aggressive. No plastic productions, no lazy hardcore kid riffs, only total evil thrashing madness! Not for the weak, not for the modern, this is real old school barbarity for maniacs only!