Under the Hammer of Destruction

The currently raging new wave of (Swedish but not only) old school death metal surely belongs to the most exiting things that metal underground have spawned in recent years. One may moan on the lack of originality or whatever else, but in my opinion this new trend (or how you call it?) brought us some absolutely killer bands and albums and only deaf will deny the excellence of Miasmal, Maim, Necrovorous, Tribulation, Encoffination, Morbus Chron, Stench of Decay and the likes. I could probably mention many more bands, but I guess you get my point. Bastard Priest belongs to this group of bands definitely also, as they simply shred with pure and relentless death metal and so you shouldn't hesitate giving a spin to their album.

I must say that it passed few months since I've heard the moniker Bastard Priest first and finally listened to some music by them. Somehow I missed the demo "Merciless Insane Death", which is a shame, but luckily I was able to listen to some appetising album songs on myspace. I liked them a lot and of course decided to buy "Under the Hammer of Destruction" vinyl soon afterwards. I couldn't resist as the rotten sound of Bastard Priest music infected my mind totally.

And here it is. Wonderfully packed 12" album, with one of the coolest front covers I've seen recently (I love the logo!) and great old school layout. The band picture with Matt Mendoza and Inventor is also great, even if they look more punk than metal, it surely fits the whole image the band has.

Punk is of course an important influence for Bastard Priest. I guess it plays as important role in the band's sound as does Nihilist, early Bathory, Venom, Autopsy, 1st Death or Master. Put together all these things and you may imagine how Bastard Priest sounds like. There's a stench of rotten dead floating over these sounds, everything is as obscure and raw as you may imagine and as furious as the beast. Of course the main base for the band's style lays in Stockholm and early death metal demos. But Bastard Priest goes back to the roots of this style, when Nihilist was shredding with simple and aggressive death metal. You won't find here the Swedish melody or Swedish guitar sound. Hmm, maybe the instru(mental) "Chock" has a bit of that mentioned melodic riffing, there's also melodic guitar lead in the title track, but that would be everything about that. Most of this record is pure, aggressive and straight forward punked (!!!) death metal. It is very simple in its structure, very raw and obscure and totally crazy. Think of Autopsy and Master (ha, is the riff from "Blasphemy from Hell" from Sarcofago's "Rotting", by the way??!!), add some extra dose of punk and this is Bastard Priest. Myself I'm not into punk much, but somehow I enjoy this album a lot, maybe due to harsh vocals and also those possessing choruses in songs like "Total Mutilation", "Visions of Doom", “Under the Hammer of Destruction” or "From Beyond". Or maybe it's just that putrid smell accompanying the music? Whatever that is, I like it a lot.

If you liked Death Breath album - and who didn't?? - then check Bastard Priest also!

Last year, I was knocked flat by a Swedish act called Tribulation, whose debut The Horror seemed a highly effective cohabitation of the thrash and death metal genres, pulsing with vivid energy as it consumed and reconstructed age old tropes into hook loaded beasts. This year, I'm having a similar revelation, and that revelation is known as Bastard Priest, a pair of scandalous Swedish misanthropes that have managed to slice through the manure of nostalgia to snatch forth the diamond of quality from the ailing, retrospective trend that has saturated the death metal scene of the past few years. Under the Hammer of Destruction is pretty much everything you could want when reaching back to the early through mid 90s for a waltz with the reaper.

It's also a worthwhile package because it collects all of the band's material to date. The band's 2007 demo is re-recorded here, while the Merciless Insane Death demo is remastered and included in its entirety. In short, shell out the cash for Under the Hammer of Destruction and your investing in the collective output of the band to date, and it's all worth having. The demo tracks from 2009 have a harsher bass tone and more resonant, crashing vocals, and to be honest I prefer the sound there, especially in the ripping of "From Beyond" and the morbid atmosphere of "Merciless Insane Death" which comes close to a hybrid of Mayhem and Entombed. The newer tracks seem a little more polished, and that doesn't exactly do the material service, but the songs like "Blasphemy from Hell", "Total Mutilation" and creepy instrumental "Chock" are so great that you'll be masturbating to bloody climax at your old Left Hand Path and In the Embrace of Evil posters.

I'll be honest, the whole Swedish death metal thing has now been done to...death. There are so many fucking bands performing this aesthetic right now that I'm starting to lose count. However, whenever it seems that I've become fed up with it, a band like Bastard Priest comes along and executes their material with such a timeless enthusiasm and tact, that I am re-inserted into the grave. Under the Hammer of Destruction sounds sufficiently old, and had it been released in 1992, it would undoubtedly be considered a classic itself. But of course it's merely standing proudly on the shoulders of its forebears, waving the flag of decrepit flesh while cackling with punk death attitude and summoning an undead audience from the surrounding soil. If you're into other great Swedish retro stylists like Tribulation or Tormented, then this is absolutely an album you should not only check out, but plunk some currency down for. There are no stinkers, not even the Bombanfall punk cover, unless of course we're referring to the aroma of corpses unearthed...then it all fucking reeks, and we wouldn't have it any other way.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

With the new breed of Swedish Death Metal acts, there are some of them who try to recreate the old school sound and fall short on their effort. Bastard Priest in the other hand didn’t try anything new, this duo know the roots of Death Metal and mixed a bit of old school punk to the mix and the result is a very interested band with more quality than the rest of the bands.

Their first full length album “Under the Hammer of Destruction” includes new songs and re-recorded demo songs, one of the things that keeps this album fresh is the production and mix, keeping the raw and gloomy sound of the classic Death Metal albums but the volume and overall instruments sound is loud and clear, the voice is low and raspy in the vein of early Grave and Carnage but with a meaner attitude and a bit of reverb, about the music, if you like early Entombed and Dismember and the sound of new bands like Morbus Chron, Maim and Repugnant this band will make you happy. This band have the attitude of the punks in Sweden from the 80s, playing raw music that inspired a lot of the early Death Metal bands that emerged from that country.

In this record the band included 3 songs from their 2007 demo, 5 songs from their 2008 demo and 3 new songs recorded in early 2010, the old songs were remixed and some of them were re-recorded. This album was released in CD format by Pulverised Records under license of Blood Harvest and in LP format by Blood Harvest only.

This band is far from delivering fresh air to the already saturated Death Metal scene from Sweden, but that’s what Death Metal is all about, no need to change, no need to evolve, just play it loud, fast and heavy as possible, talk about general topics such as death, zombies, horror and gore, and I’ll a records like that anytime.