Deception / Demonic Slaughter - Worshippers of the Darkness

DECEPTION / DEMONIC SLAUGHTER - Worshippers of the Darkness (HELLTHRASHER - split CD 2012)

Hellthrasher releases another split CD, which this time gathers two Polish bands; two, which may seem too different stylistically to be on one CD, but I guess the music, which both those bands – Deception and Demonic Slaughter – recorded on “Worshippers of the Darkness” is slightly different to their usual stuff, so in that case they fit quite well together. Besides, the times when death and black metal were going separate ways are long gone; nowadays it’s no surprise to see bands from both genres playing together gigs and also releasing split CDs. And maybe it’s even better if we get something more varied musically; to show all the shades of dark. Anyway, “Worshippers of the Darkness” comes on a black digipack and is definitely a nice addition to my collection.

So far the music of Deception was almost like a rollercoaster, going up and down with the quality. While I was really thrilled by the greatness of two demos and “Nuclear Wind” album, then I was equally disappointed by the awfully chaotic “Nails Sticking Offensive”, only to get the faith in the band back with their third album, “Inferno”. Obviously I hoped that Deception’s part on their split with Demonic Slaughter will not be another failure and will keep the quality untouched… but to be honest, I must say that I prefer and like “Inferno” and the pre-“Nails…” recordings more than this stuff. Which doesn’t mean that those two tracks, which Deception putted here are shit… no, they’re fine, but I expected something more, really. First of all, I am not really convinced by the idea of growling the Polish written lyrics. This language, while within the black metal atmosphere seems to work really well and definitely it was proven many times already that it can give the music a special aura (Furia, FDS, Abusiveness), in death metal it was exactly the opposite and many times before, when bands were using Polish written lyrics I was rather sceptical. I am afraid that in case of Deception it also doesn’t impress me. The thing is those vocals do not sound brutal enough for me… or diabolic enough, depending what Deception wanted to achieve here. They’re OK, but nothing more than that. And it’s a pity as music wise Deception doesn’t lack anything. As usual their songs are fast and violent like “Zatracenie”, which is speeding like crazy. I have a feeling like the music (guitar riffs, etc) was slightly more brutal and maybe not as intense as the previous Deception efforts. It just feels quite different band than before, but maybe it’s just a mislead, especially as the split releases can bring material, which normally wouldn’t fit the full length albums. The Deception part is closed with a cover of Bathory and I must say that I really (REALLY) liked the way “Rites of Darkness” was played here.

I wasn’t sure really whether the music of Demonic Slaughter – which sometimes can be very specific and sick – will fit to the death metal slaughter of Deception, but while also Deception didn’t do the material, which is exactly similar to their previous releases, one could expect Demonic Slaugther also to take a step aside and try to explore slightly different music. And yeah, while I can still say that those two tracks are black metal, they’re definitely different to the stuff, which I know from “Dark Essence’ MCD for instance. But I must also say that I am really impressed by the intensity and greatness of those two new songs. Especially “Continuous Self-destruction” is like a total motherfuckin black metal devastation, it’s very fast and has a great atmosphere, but one can definitely spot some death metal parts here and there, what makes it even more special. I guess this song is definitely my favourite one of all, which Demonic Slaughter has composed so far and which I have heard (mind though that I don’t know all of this band’s releases yet). Style wise I can compare it to some of the recent Mayhem albums, I guess, but it is even faster and more intense. Uhh, if the new Demonic Slaughter is going to be like those two songs, then I predict a fuckin genocide.

Final rate: 70/100