Wrath

Formed in 2011, Servi Diaboli has morphed from a full fledged band into the solo project of Armando Luiz. The project’s second full length album, Wrath, was released in October of 2015 on CD through Cold Raw Records and digitally by the band. Featuring nearly forty minutes of intense, pummeling black metal, Wrath is a fine continuation of the sound broached by the Mørkets Herre EP released earlier in the year.

The album sees Servi Diaboli moving further away from the tedious symphonic keyboard samples that plagued their earlier work, favoring a straight forward approach to second wave worship. Fiery trem riffing, gruff, raspy shouts and a mix of blasting and choppy mid tempo percussion are the order of the day. The guitar tone is slightly warbly, and a little heavy on the treble, but it’s a large step forward for the band. The prominent, rumbling bass lines mix nicely with the rangy trem riffing, which perhaps keeps the guitar tone from grating too much.

Most of the album fires away steadily with unrepentant rhythms, as the trem riffing washes over everything and the blasting drums keep rolling. Despite the rampant second wave worship at play, the riffs don’t really offer any underlying melodies, choosing a constant pummeling assault instead. There are times when the songs kind of trip up during a chunky section of power chords, but it passes quickly. Armando added a few guest vocalists this time, which brings a slightly different vibe to a few tracks, but the extraneous performances aren’t entirely noteworthy.

Wrath sees Servi Diaboli continuing to improve and focusing their sound into a caustic wall of trem riffing. Fans of no nonsense second wave worship would do well to check this out. It’s not reinventing the wheel by any means, but it’s a decent take on the genre. Not essential by any means, but it’s good for a quick fix of pummeling, unrelenting black metal with no frills.

Written for The Metal Observer.