The Bogeyman

Death Power


“You the most demoniac of Angels And cruelest of Demons The Prince of Exile & Hell”


Yeah that’s right, a thrash band - From France. Are they crazy? Yes. A lot of French metal from the 80’s (that’s actually known outside of the place) tends to be either straight up heavy metal or hard rock – with few exceptions that I know of (Blaspheme). This leads the excellently titled Death Power to be somewhat of a curiosity – one of the only French thrash bands from the 80’s I’ve heard. But was I impressed? – Yes. This is a solid old school thrash outing, in the more simplistic vein of Hexx and Backwater rather than your technical, masterpiece overtures of Flotsam or Germanites Mekong Delta. Touches of the crossover brand are also evidenced on this piece which is generally strong with excellent little pieces accentuating it as a whole. Another strong Frankish offering, this is the bands only full-length; the rest of their catalogue is typical of your more obscure thrash band, with EPs and singles in place of album laden-ness.

Anyway, vocals on this one have your typical gruff sounding ‘deathy’ delivery like Destruction and other great German bands of the era – no doubt taking pages from these legendary European stalwarts, who were turning heads in Europe with their bullet belt and leather approach to heavy metal winning many hearts at the time. Your rough deliveries of tracks like the blisteringly paced ‘Away With You’ are aggressive and fucking thrilling. Even in the track ‘Vivisection’ – with it’s presumably wimpy (?) lyrics about freeing the animals and running free with them in a sun-baked meadow, David Thimel’s vocals are fucking evil and menacing. The extreme ‘deathy’ growliness in the slower section at the end (which is nicely twinned with two good tracks) is the highlight of this effect. Anyway, ‘Vivisection’ with it’s political undertow, brings out more of the punk/crossover credentials I might have mentioned – with this touch coming out in other numbers also.

Your title track – the ridiculously monikered ‘The Bogeyman’ tackles obviously silly subject matter and might’ve won more hearts if titled ‘Evil Night Lurker’ or something in this vein. However, this is a strong slower number – very much evoking crossover thrash, with comparisons to Suicidal Tendencies and DRI being possible due to the edgy ‘who gives a fuck attitude’ to the vocal delivery and the menacing, yet lighter riffage. Your bass and drum combination on this one also sound ‘lighter’ – not the doomy thick as leather sound to them that other thrash attacks have. The supreme speediness of the section that starts at 4:00 is excellent – very much another crossover reference that’s thoroughly mosh-worthy. This is a well crafted number – yet not your standout track. It’s also epic at five and a half minutes, carried through which menacing shrieks at the end moments, coupled with a doomy chorus of vocals that sounds like something Angel Witch or Pagan Altar would do.

Anyway, more thrash/crossover is found in ‘March of the Dead’ a blast-beatish affair drenched in Venom, Sodom and Kreator-ism that ANY thrash fan will nod their head to. This full blown song charges like the black knight running down a weak mere mortal for the most part, with sad and gloomy (suitable to the subject matter) little bridges that are kinda like breaks the band needs to take when playing this phenomenally paced mach 3 number. The black knight that is Death Power, with his appropriate title, is not finished mowing down enemies yet though, and it may interest to know, that in typical warrior-like fashion, he has no regrets, and continues the all out assault to banish wimps in the satanically themed epic ‘Satan’s Litanies’ a fire and brimstone piece that’s pure evil. From the doom of the short intro effect, you know for a dark imagery obsessed pure piece of fucking evil thrash – and you couldn’t be more clearer. Though Venom’s first material came out ten years prior to this one – it doesn’t show; this one is evil, raw and satanic, with all the bass-guitar worship and hooky rock n roll-ness of the aforementioned. Dark reverberation of the vocals and typical ‘evil laughs’ are positioned well with screaming raw as anything lead mastery – a fucking blistering number. I’m not done praising this one though; it also contains great gang vocals – a hell-spawn of demons get into the Satan-worship in this cut – giving forceful ness to its powerful imagery. A fucking album highlight that any fan of dark thrash will love – centrepiece epicry.

‘Stop Time’ refuses to acknowledge gods other than Venom, considering them false idols, who need to be mowed down by the axe man. This one’s got variety; with your faster bits and your slower pieces concentrating on double speed bass kick and hi-hat/cymbal crashery. The excellent, speed metal touches of the latter part of this number are brilliant. A memorable riff here, that is given added forcefulness by extra tracking and finishes with strong shouted gangness. Anyway, double-kick in this band is great, while it could be mixed better, effective in most tracks, especially the Slayer-esque and ‘widdly’ riffed ‘Begin the Sacrifice’ with its thrash-cliché title. This is a strong introduction to this great band, but may not be the best song on the album. There’s a great hook of a chorus in the shouted title of the song – this would be a thriller to sing along to live – fists pumping – air guitar raging, and the distinct taste of other peoples sweat seeping into your dehydrated mouth. A fucking rager of a number. Bass is prominent in this song – but possibly not the best mix; something that can go awry on 80’s thrash releases quite frequently – with American bands probably faring better. Anyway – this number will not let up and will not be forgotten. Just fucking hear the thunder.

This album kills – these French lads nailing a great sound that while heavily Venom/Sodom influenced, who the hell wasn’t at this time? A late thrash release that doesn’t suffer from it’s date – contrarily this offering benefits from the time the band has had to hone their efforts – a couple years spent mastering some excellent orchestrations that pays off in this phenomenal unheard-of classic. This one is thrash metal with no bullshit – no long progressive passages or focus on pompous touches – just furious Venom-ous assaults with all the right riffage. Your vocals are nasty ballsy growls with no soaring highs, common of bands like Flotsam or Anthrax. Pretty much every song’s a winner on this fine piece of genre execution – do not go without hearing it as you ARE NOT thrash if you don’t have it.

-DeathRiderDoom