Deus Mortem - Kosmocide
Malignant Voices
Black Metal
7 songs (42:47)
Release year: 2019
Bandcamp
Reviewed by Goat

Sometimes, all you need is hate. Experienced Polish warmongers Deus Mortem are well aware of this, and accordingly this is a hateful, rabid little beast of an album. The band members are well connected, various other projects that they've taken part in including Infernal War, Azarath, and Outre, to name a few, and M from Mgła and Kriegsmaschine handled the production on Kosmocide. He did a terrific job, cloaking the instruments with rawness without lessening their violent impact, giving the guitars a sinister buzz that's deliciously old-school. And the music itself is hugely enjoyable, death and thrash-infused gallopers that batter your ears with crashing drums and squealing guitar leads before freezing your soul with icy atmospheric sections. It's quite the combination, not least because most black metal bands are only good at one of these, yet Deus Mortem are equally skilled at both. So you get both the black/thrashing Through the Crown It Departs, vocalist/guitarist N bringing some of that classic Azarath-ian energy and bile to his performance, and the sinister soulscape that is Sinister Lava.

Deus Mortem are skilled songwriters, plain from the likes of The Seeker alone, which starts with classic Darkthrone battery before an early Slayer-esque breakdown brings a mid-paced section both groovy and chillingly dark, resuming the galloping thereafter. It's just one of many highlights, easy to listen to as the band carry you away with them in the final stretch, drummer Stormblast stretching his arms a little and enjoying himself alongside the listener. He's always technical and listenable, but rarely quite as showy as, say, Mgła's Darkside; not a bad thing for either, given how well both fit their respective bands. And although the riffs can sometimes fade into the background a little under both vocals and drums, the guitars from N and Sinister (nominative determinism at work!) are always excellent, as the lengthy but gripping Ceremony of Reversion pt 2 shows, not least in the midpoint section where militant drumbeats echo beneath guitars buzzing relentlessly as N rants. The thrash break shortly into opener Remorseless Beast is ridiculously enjoyable, the song not letting up and throwing in a nicely Celtic Frostian breakdown into doom metal pace towards the end, with possibly the album's best guitar solo. Each track has something to appreciate, and each does it differently enough for the album to feel varied despite being brutal black metal at its core. Really, there's nothing to criticise, a terrific album.

Killing Songs :
Remorseless Beast, Sinister Lava, Ceremony of Reversion pt 2
Goat quoted 80 / 100
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