Satan in the Death Row

Despot is a one-man Brazilian thrashy black metal project of B.A.V. (or perhaps blackish thrash project) featuring rather novel aesthetics for a band of that genre. Though the cover art of “Satan in the Death Row” (or the album title) can hardly be considered very indicative of the music contained within, it should dispel any doubts as to whether this is a fairly unique work of art. This album can definitely be lauded for originality and passion. The songs are intricately crafted and layered with carefully written melody and even counterpoint. The music is not highly experimenting in the sense of being avant-gardist, but it clearly shuns typical approaches to songwriting, even where the riffing is rooted in traditional aesthetics. There are no cheap, tried-and-true resolutions to be found, or anything indicative of artistic listlessness. This approach of genuine, uncompromising artistic pursuit is naturally the only way of creating a masterpiece, but its results can also be divisive among listeners. When it hits home, a classic is born. When it doesn’t, at least the result is something legimately imaginative and real, even if it fall short in resonating with the listener in ways that the artist intended.

The title and cover art of this album imply certain simplicity of aesthetic, or at least appreciation of tradition. However, the music is modern, complex and quite restless. The first thing to be noted is the interplay of the guitar riffs and the programmed drums. At times, the drumming consists less of parts easily definable as beats, and more something as a complex rhythmical backbone for the riffing. The drums are completely a slave to the guitar riffs: where there’s a pause in the riffing, the drums follow, and where the guitars blast frenzied, dark riffing, the drums blast along. In ways, this is both beneficial and hurtful to the music. In later Immolation albums, the drum beats are written entirely by the songwriter and primary guitarist of the band, Vigna. The effect is excellent: the music is entirely driven by Vigna’s riffs, and therefore those riffs are augmented by every other instrument in the best ways possible. The downside is the lack of individuality of the different instruments. There’s a highly calculated feel in it, which gives Immolation a very awe-inspiring, imposing atmosphere. Despot’s music is driven not only by riffs, but also atmosphere as evoked by those riffs and the layers placed thereupon. The production is darker, and the music is sometimes more menacing in a sinister way, and sometimes quite playful in a manner reminiscent of 80s thrash metal. The frantic, well audible bass parts are complex, fast and wrought with intricate, rolling patterns. The songs are crafted in a most unorthodox way, and the amount of riffs seems quite exceptional. Getting into the atmosphere requires a certain mindset, and the complexities and the quality of this album might be lost to the listener at first try, especially since the last track (discounting the outro) leaves a somewhat sour taste in mouth. I wholeheartedly recommend a few listens before passing judgment, as the music is at best brimming with excellent musical ideas: they simply require complete concentration from the listener to be wholly appreciated. The pace of the music (in terms of how it progresses) is so blinding that the finesse can be difficult to recognise, and certain less tasteful musical elements can make it even harder to acknowledge.

B.A.V.’s repertoire of riffs is adequately diverse, and the sheer amount of variations he has crafted of certain archetype riffs is astonishing, as well as laudably developed so as to genuinely give the music the variety it needs. The anger and spite in riffs of songs like “Auto-da-Fé” is quite inspiring, and at times, that style is effortlessly combined with melodic, even sorrowful styles to an excellent result. Many of the riffs seem to draw from Destruction and other more spiteful and extreme thrash bands of the 80s, which is especially apparent in the catchy main riff of “Purified by Fire”. There’s a mad energy to the vast majority of the riffing, which gives Despot unique charm. Certainly, B.A.V. never neglected to write atmospheric, somewhat mellower parts to balance out the sheer speed where necessary. The album is certainly full of material, brimming to the top with variety, and the music meanders to such degrees that it’s incredible how well each song, and in fact the entire album, maintains its cohesion. The atmosphere is in constant change through the album’s progression. By the middle of the album, as for example in the title track, more dramatic and melodic territories are explored. Later on, the album takes a turn for less serious, less sinister moods. The quality of songwriting clearly peaks early on, and begins to wind down as the album progresses.

Although the album’s character and quality becomes more apparent with listening, ultimately, the faults are the same ones that are apparent on early listens. The production is somewhat mellow for the style’s requirements. The guitars sound fairly soft, and the trebly drum sounds only seem to have power during intense double-kick barrages, whereas the thin snare, barely discernible from the bass drum, and the hissing cymbals fall considerably short. The music could have more power with either a veritably massive sound scheme, with thick, heavy guitars and more encompassing drum sounds, or completely raw and abrasive black metal sound. Another problem is the hecticness of the music and its pace. Though some songs like “Forbidden” and “Le Roi Nu” balance excellently between that mad, thrashing assault mode and calmer and more sinister passages, much of the music centers heavily on the intense. This is hardly a fault in itself, but some of the riffs and chord progressions, combined with the exceedingly busy rhythm section, lend and outright comical quality to the music, somewhat similarly as in Vorum’s material. As with Vorum, being able to get past that requires considerable degree of immersion in the atmosphere of the music. Again similar to Vorum, Despot evokes atmosphere quite laudably, which makes this less serious of a problem. The worst offender is “Egregious”, the penultimate song, which also features some less interesting riffing in comparison to the rest of the album. Ultimately, the largest problem with these cases seems to be the drum programming. Songs like “Egregious” could’ve been made considerably more impressive by a live drummer and a more individual style in the drumming performance. Albeit overlong, it’s a fairly enjoyable piece by virtue of a few excellent riffs in the middle parts. Overall, despite having notable faults, “Satan in the Death Row” is an extremely interesting and mostly very enjoyable listening experience. It’s certainly not typical for black metal or any genre, and shows a great example of how black, death and thrash metal can be expanded, muted and combined. If every song was as great “Matriarch” and “Auto-da-Fé”, this album would be close to outright brilliant.