Apotheosis

Of the last decade's Danish death metal scene, Deiquisitor never really seemed like one of the more popular bands. Undergang, Hyperdontia, Phrenelith, Chaotian, and even demo-only band Ulcerot seemed to get more traction in the death metal underground. Deiquisitor is also pretty different from those bands - while Undergang and Phrenelith focus on the hypodungeon vocals of David Torturdød and Chaotian appeals to the broader Dark Descent crowd, Deiquistor is a lot more off-center and sinewy. I didn't care so much for 2018's Downfall of the Apostates when I first heard it; it seemed like yet another north European band going for the halcyon days of the early/mid-90s (ironically, it was on Dark Descent).

I wasn't super interested in Apotheosis upon first announcement, but now that it's out I can say with no qualifications that it's both Deiquistor's best and one of the strongest albums from Denmark's extreme metal scene of the last 15 years. "Meat-and-potatoes" is a tag I like to use when describing bands with a pummeling, bass-heavy, and simplistic yet engaging songwriting style - think Jungle Rot, Altar of Gore, and Drawn & Quartered. Well, Deiquisitor is still meat-and-potatoes... except infected with toxoplasma gondii and listeria. There's that overwhelming sense of wrongness that I love so much from this kind of death metal, where my brain unconsciously picks up on there being a slight offness to how the otherwise straightforward tracks typically progress. It's that squelching kind of death metal that appeals to the same part of me that enjoys Adversarial and Imprecation.

The absolute highlight of this album is drummer Henrik Christensen, credited as "HBC". My favorite kind of percussion is as much a rhythm as style. Paulus Kressman is my go-to example; his weirdo, wonky fills elevate Sacramentary Abolishment to one of the most discomfiting black/death band of the 90s, and his absence is exactly why Axis of Advance never did anything for me. HBC is on that level here - Apotheosis is full of what would be mistakes if they came from a lesser drummer. The minute-mark of "Humanoid" features a brief moment where HBC sounds like he comes in a measure too soon, but it absolutely work as he launches almost immediately into a fill that could have been its own progression. Moments where the percussion becomes more stilted (e.g. "Autosarcophagy") make the tracks more sparse and militaristic; HBC's technical ability otherwise displayed on the LP show these were not idle decisions. It's almost like drums as a lead instrument in the absence of a lead guitar.

It's always dangerous to title a track after your band when you're so far into your career (looking at you, Ride for Revenge), but "Deiquistor" pulls it off with back-to-back highlight "Atomic Assassins." Both of these have more moments of HBC's bizarre rhythmic structures, but "Deiquisitor" is the band's strongest moment for the shortest track the LP. While no band can compare directly to Rob Vigna's odious but earwormy hooks (to the extent it's kind of a meme to compare any 2020s death metal band to either Immolation or Incantation), I do think there's something to be said for the track "Deiquistor". it's that style of ever so slight wonkiness on otherwise melodious riffs, but with a murkier production style on Apotheosis that paradoxically makes the snare one of the loudest sounds here but not obtrusively so.

As of the end of March 2023, this is one of the five best LPs I've heard the year so far - metal or otherwise. Apotheosis rewards multiple listens; I admit to enjoying it a hair above decent upon first listen, but as I've written this I've listened to it three times in the last 24 hours and each time has given me something new to latch onto - be it the 10-second clean guitar lead on "Autosarcophagy" or the nearly war-metal snare snapping on "Atomic Assassins". If you're into death metal and tired of tropes, then give Deiquisitor a try: they play all the moves, but they fuck them up good.

The fittingly titled latest album from Denmark’s Deiquisitor is a pleasing exploration of the more obscurantist corners of old school navel gazing, with elements of early Agathocles sitting happily alongside more sophisticated death metal reference points such as Crucifixion and early Gorguts. But, as I have pointed out many times, in regards to explicitly old school orientated acts there’s a difference between imitation and scholarship. Deiquisitor definitely fit into the latter category.

‘Apotheosis’ is a work of death metal as mature and subtle as it is dirt ridden and primal. The production is murky, the guitar tone is oddly supressed, which, when combined with the down tuning, takes on an almost ghostly presence across these tracks. Unsettling atmospheric qualities are offered free of charge alongside a tone capable of articulating the multi-faceted riff philosophy. Drums are sharp yet unpolished, working in choppy percussive punches via aggressive blast-beats alongside a swirl of off kilter fills, bolstering the veil of utter disorientation stretched across this album. Vocals are a distant yet aggressive monstrosity lurking in the liminal crevices behind the foregrounded chaos.

Ultimately, ‘Apotheosis’ is an example of the perfect interplay between the rudiments of creative riffcraft and the idiosyncratic atmospheric elements that can supervene on this if the guitar tone is developed in alignment with this musical philosophy. The staccato bluntness framing many of these passages is juxtaposed against the more fluid and unfocused droning inertia of sustained chords, invoking images of organic matter squeezed through a world of dry, urbanistic concrete and skeletal metal frameworks. For all its aspirations to mysticism, this is ultimately a sound world evocative of human oppression within our inorganic environment, and the odd mutations our physical and mental selves adopt in order to navigate this immovable, angular, claustrophobic means of habitation.

The stop/start pulses, the ringing tritones smashed against droning atonality, the references to older thrash and punk influences via choppy power chord displays, all are directed in new and novel shapes that are utterly distinct from formative musical styles that adopted similar techniques. This is ultimately what made death metal so special initially, not the blunt fact of its extremity. For that reason ‘Apotheosis’ is a far worthier contender for adopting and developing the legacy of those older artists that pushed at these boundaries. This is both a continuation of and an evolution upon the qualities of truly atmospheric, idiosyncratic death metal that nevertheless trades on a pronounced riff philosophy to achieve these ends.

Originally published at Hate Meditations

One of my favourite bands of the Danish death metal underground is Deiquisitor. Thankfully they are back to present us a new album...

Discordant guitars enter, serving us an introduction of decaying gristle as the constantly mental drumming joins. Bestial and rampant with fury, it is to be appreciated how quickly they cut to business with utterly devastating extremity blasting straight to life. In my opinion, Deiquisitor have one of the best sounds in death metal with unique riffs and possibly the best underground drummer around, those elements meet monstrous vocals and create a force to be reckoned with. Never disappointing, the earlier moments of “Apotheosis” churn out the vilest chasms of music that feel bottomless and yet claustrophobic, like an encircling abyss of morbid horrors. With very present bass often coming through with a rumbling and clunky sound, these nuances feel genuinely old school and timeless. The fills and placement of riff changes are really jarring but in an intentional and cool way that feels volatile and frighteningly tense rather than clumsy. This coupled with the murkily dark yet crushing and sharp production values convey what is, always has been and always will be Deiquisitor’s signature sound of desolate, ferocious and disquieting death metal supremacy.

Occasional moments of gloom serenade us with funereal atmospherics before rupturing the air with malignant, tumorous and warped bouts of blasting percussion that hammers the skull while contorting riffs convulse between the opened cracks. In fact, the rhythmic battery across the board has always been a huge draw for this band, giving their music a relentless and unforgiving approach. Absolutely not for the faint of heart, or those who may be effected by a sonic strobe effect of caustic brutality. If you find yourself trapped in the soundscapes, prepare for scornful and scathing vocals to incur more panic as the musical diabolism rips the ground out from under your feet. This sadistic method of crafting songs harkens back to the likes of Imprecation, Sadistic Intent, Morbid Angel and Immolation but with a certain flare entirely of their own that mixes the dissonant, even blackened, flavour into bestial death metal so effectively. This concocts an evocatively malodorous feeling of pure rage that taps into the primal spirit yet doing so with clever and inventive music rather than basic and dull repetition. Like a zoetrope of death and decay, “Apotheosis” will disorient and reorganise in the most terrifying manner possible.

Blending those divinely ugly and yet carefully curated musical abominations is truly an art that it feels Deiquisitor have mastered over the very active decade they have existed. Perhaps their regular release schedule can be thanked, as clearly their songwriting chops have been fine-tuned and run like a well-oiled machine of tight musical abilities working very closely together. Although a very natural feeling is conveyed in the playing that doesn’t feel over-produced or characterless. Additionally it is obvious that the band rehearse their material to a very high quality threshold before hitting record which allows the organic but very urgent and hard-hitting execution to be truly brilliant. Right to the last, we are given track after track of utterly devastating music that couldn’t possibly feel more intense. While a very obvious signature sound has been achieved, Deiquisitor do not regurgitate the same idea over and over. No, we can hear a huge development that results in some of their most furious pieces of sonic carnage to date.

Is the title apt? Is this indeed the “Apotheosis” of Deiquisitor’s music thus far? It is hard to rank, as all of their records have been killer. But definitely here we see a truly masterful achievement from the band thus far. I do not feel it is my place to say where it would fall into something as subjective as a ranking, but I can certainly say this is a near-perfect cut of truly magnificent death metal.

Written for www.nattskog.wordpress.com