Lords of Destiny

Hearing about a Chinese group named Ancestor (祖先), lots of people might turn up expecting some Asian folk metal. Well, I hope those people like Sodom as well, because Ancestor sound like, er, Sodom. Really, I can’t think of another way to say that, because the Sodom influence is so front and centre on the two releases I’ve heard from the quartet that I almost can’t be bothered to say how completely these guys hit the ‘80s thrash target. Their band photo looks a bit like classic Death Angel, they have that slightly under-distorted tone to the guitars and fat grunt to the bass that lets them play as fast as fuck, and even the production balances everything in a familiar manner. If I tell you that the opening track proper is named ‘Deathlike Silence’, you’ll know what I mean about the Sodom influence. No, there’s no folk here.

Of course, since the influences are so obvious, we should consider them deliberate and move onto questions of quality. Ancestor certainly prove with Lords of Destiny that their ability to play quick needs no further examination, while some very nice riffs provide the main draw. Just as Sodom were doing in their period around Persecution Mania, much of the guitar riffing pushes the boundaries of thrash towards the onrushing edge of black and death metal. ‘Bloody Repression’ sprints ahead like Kreator using up all the space of thrash metal on Pleasure to Kill, while proto-extreme styles occasionally give way to pure hooky glory, such as ‘Savage Action’ breaking down into a Diamond Head chug just as everything is becoming too chaotic. Perhaps the crowning achievement of the guitar pair comes when ‘Black Future’ whizzes out of the blocks and flattens the listener, making it onto my list of things not to listen to while on the treadmill at the gym. The Kreator-style spazzy guitars solos definitely don’t help in that regard.

You may still be wondering how seriously to take my comparison to that very particular phase of German thrash between 1986-7. Let me assure you that the singer even sounds German, barking out words like he’s had ‘Agent Orange’ on repeat while he’s sleeping, resulting in a clinical yet grim finish to precision controlled rhythms and wild soloing. Due to Ancestor’s impressive consistency at aping that seminal sound, I find myself wishing that they could have branched out at least a little bit to include some original ideas, since they could surely have carried them out superbly due to their great skill. On the other hand, Lords of Destiny succeeds at hitting that niche very accurately, meaning that thrash fans of that particular era now have more than a dozen records to play. Ancestor did the right thing in keeping their debut full-length short and snappy, though I really hope they stick around to get creative and unleash a second album just as powerful yet a little more creative.