Pleading for Death... Choking on Life

For all the endless praise current black/death metal darlings Bölzer have (in my opinion, rightfully) earned, you just don't hear much talk at all about Bölzer frontman O Ketzer's other project, Deathcult. It can't be the fact that thus far the band has only put out a single demo and this brief EP, as Bölzer themselves had the exact same sort of discography when they started getting signed on to play every extreme metal festival or tour in the entire world. It can't be lack of label support, either, since their debut demo was put out by the fairly high-profile Irish label Invictus Productions, home of such black/death misanthropes as Malthusian and ZOM, and this EP was itself released by the high-profile Me Saco un Ojo Records. In the end I guess it comes down to two things: the lack of tour support (at least in comparison to the tireless touring habits of Bölzer) and the relative straightforwardness/accessibility of the material.

While O Ketzer's other band is known for making up for their unorthodox two-man lineup by playing endless streams of twisting, haunted tremolo riffs that give visions of a goat-drawn chariot streaking across a burning sky, bolstered by thunderous percussion and bizarre wailing vocals, Deathcult have a decidedly more orthodox approach. Two guitars, bass, drums, vocals. The music is likewise more simple and easily recognizable in nature. First salvo "Endless Ravenous Void" alternates between simple, thrashy Swedish-sounding powerchord riffs and drearier Finnesque tremolo melodies. The eleven-minute, three-part second track, "The Drunkard in the Sky," rumbles by in a slightly thrashier mode, recalling Bölzer's more straightforward riffs reinterpreted by Dismember. That's not to say this is just pedestrian death metal, either; there are still some bizarre vocalizations like cleanly sung lamentations and deep gravel-voiced chants that sound nearly like throat singing (the way these two styles work together during the third movement of the second track is really something to behold).

As much as I love Bölzer's signature twisting, bizarre riffing style, it's actually a real treat to hear some of the idiosyncrasies of that band (namely the diverse vocals and sense of scale) transferred over to something a bit more grounded. Hell, there are even moments on this EP that recall Bolt Thrower, just about the most meat and potatoes death metal one could imagine. While I'm not quite as mesmerized by this band, I think it may actually be a safer bet crossing one's fingers for a Deathcult full length than a Bölzer album. The dedication to high-quality, no-frills riffs seems like it's building some insurance against a gimmick running out of steam or a metal-listening public who may one day grow tired of that pony's one trick, even if that trick is a really, really good one.

I realize it's probably a shit thing to do to endlessly compare this band to their more famous related band, but the presence of O Ketzer in both, and Bölzer's rising star continuing to burn brightly, means that it's unlikely that anyone is really going to get into this band without already being familiar with Bölzer, so perhaps it's true that Deathcult are forever doomed to live in shadow. But, it could also be that that's a good thing, as the band can continue to labor on forging vicious, nocturnal death metal from the relative safety of obscurity and without the looming specter of failure that haunts every band that lives under the scrutinizing eye of the hype machine.