We Are Death... Fukk You!

Sadistik Exekution continue their post-apocalyptic romp with We Are Death...Fukk You!, originally intended to be a self-titled album before Osmose records misinterpreted a line written on the master tape as the album's title. It's still a rather fitting title because if you still thought this band was a little bit sane on the debut, their sophomore album will shatter any impression of mental stability. In doing so, they also make themselves even more distinct from their contemporaries and make themselves a real one of a kind band.

The biggest indicator for this band's madness is the band's vocalist/heart and soul Rok. Both the lyrics and their delivery give me the impression that he's either a big joker or has a few screws loose. This was a little apparent in The Magus, but it becomes even more obvious starting on We Are Death...Fukk You! and would get even crazier in the subsequent albums. There's no published lyrics to actually analyze, but there's many "wtf" moments in what can be heard. I find it hard to believe that random moments of him going "FUKK ME! FUKK ME!" or "FUKK! SHIT! FUKK SHIT!" or "WE ARE THE FUKKERS OF DEATH!" (and yes, in the context of this band, the proper spelling is f-u-k-k) were actually pre-written on a lyrical sheet. These moments may come off as immature, but it's a sort of silliness that gives this band their own unique flavor.

SadEx changed guitarists between their first and second albums, bringing in Reverend Kriss Hades who would become their permanent guitar player for the remainder of their existence. With his arrival, the riffing style of the band does change a bit. It still falls into the realm of black/thrash metal, but Hades' riffing is much more chaotic and goes hand in hand with Rok's vocals. Though the moments of brilliant badassery seem less strong here than on The Magus, the quality of the riffs overall are more consistent and memorable and the crazed sound does ultimately become one of the other distinguishing features of the band. The band's psychotic nature makes them very fun to listen to even on the interlude segments "Burnt Offerings" or "Lest We Forget", to say little of the haunting outro track "Hades Valley" with its screeching guitar and overload of apocalyptic ambiance.

We Are Death...Fukk You! is an exceptional and very unique extreme metal album that's also a huge development stepping stone for Sadistik Exekution. Its standouts might not be as strong as the ones on The Magus, but it has its own highlights with "Internal Klok" being goofy as fukk while still being awesome and "Astral Abortis" just being straight badass in spite of being recorded in a different session. This is highly recommended to the death/black metal camp.

BLOODY ORGY!
DEATHLY NIGHT!
SCREAMING BLOOOD!
SADISTIK HELL!

Those for lines from “Elektrokution” basically sum up why Sadistik Exekution is so fucking awesome. No other band could string together the same few words over an album and not sound like a complete tool doing, no other band could write a song where nearly a third of it is the vocalist screaming “fucking shit” over and over while a creepy as hell bass line runs under it. No, Sadistik Exekution are unique in approach and sound, and “We are Death... Fukk You!” is where the band really started to cement their reputation as one of the loopiest black/death metal bands ever.

Right from the opening of the album, you’re hit with vocalist Rok’s vocals screaming over ultra-fast blasting and guitar work, and it pretty much sums up this album as a whole, except for those, you know, DOOMY songs. Yes, shock horror to everyone who reads this, Sadistik Exekution writes slow songs! The band had previously tried it with the opening of “Agonizing the Dead” on previous album “The Magus,” yet here the slow parts are extended out to a whole song on “Evoke War Vomit.” Despite the idea of a slow Sadistik Exekution song being so ludicrous to the point of being almost laughable (they did actually have more slow songs on later albums), “Evoke War Vomit” comes off as “scary.” Perhaps scary is not the right word, but this one song is sure as hell freakier than anything Wormphleghm or Senthil could do, and simply proves that there is more to this band than meets the eye.

However, for the most part this album is fast. As in, really fast. This isn’t a band that will cause your parents to rip out your earphones or turn off your computer/C.D player. No, Sadistik Exekution are more likely to destroy the mental stability of anyone and everyone around you, causing them to adopt the foetal position and rock to and fro slowly until they die while you enjoy yourself oblivious to the Armageddon happening around you. Wherever you skip to in this C.D (excluding the previously mentioned “Evoke War Vomit”) you will either be hit with a noisy interlude or outro (“Burnt Offerings,” “Lest We Forget” and “Hades Valley”) or 1000km/h blasting accompanied by screaming that makes your retro-thrash band sound like a bunch of pussies raised on warm milk (“Mathematikus” and “Internal Klok”). Notice I said km/h; this is AUSTRALIAN metal, ya bastards!

Speaking of “Internal Klok,” that’s perhaps the song that bears the most similarities to the band’s work on “K.A.O.S” and the “Fukk” albums. In fact, astute listeners will notice that the song has the words “We are death… Fukk you!” screamed in there by the one and only Rok. Oh, who am I kidding? Everybody will notice it, because in true Sadistik fashion, it’s incredibly blatantly obvious…

AND AWESOME.

As much as I’d like to rant on about how amazingly great “We are Death… Fukk You!” is, this album does have its downsides. Due to the fact that it’s composed of one item which appears to have begged release as an EP, plus a couple of other things (Osmose actually took the main “EP” part and added on a couple of singles/demos/whatevers on the end to make the album), the sound and production on the album varies significantly. Up to “Elektrokution” the sound stays the same, with a guitar and vocal heavy mix and good recording quality. After the interlude of “Lest We Forget,” the sound changes for the first time. “Evoke War Vomit” is still guitar heavy, but everything sounds slightly rawer, especially the drums. The next song (“Astral Abortis”) is yet even rawer with less emphasis on the guitars and louder vocals. Obviously not content on staying on the same sound for more than one song, “Ipsissimus” changes sound again, sounding slightly rawer and more “blackened” in sound than the previous song. This frequent change of sound is perhaps detrimental to the flow of the album. While all the songs are top-notch, the differing recording quality leaves a hollow feeling after listening, as if something is missing. It’s a shame really, because this could have been released as an EP and ended up as one of the greatest EPs ever.

Musically, the “SadEx quirks” of later albums start to appear here on this album. “Mathematikus” features one of Dave Slave’s trademark bass solos (which should actually be trademarked, they’re that cool) as well as the first screaming of “FUKK!” (the previously mentioned line in “Internal Klok”). Sloth’s drumming focuses more and more on the intense blasting that would later dominate the “Fukk” albums and Reverand Kriss Hades’ signature guitar work starts to dominate the overall feel of the album. More technical than it’s predecessor, “We are Death…” is also more chaotic. It’s where Sadistik Exekution started to truly carve their own little niche on metal, and despite the differing sound bump, I love it.

WE ARE DEATH… FUUUUUUKK YOUUUUUU!!!!!!!