Though their press bio mentions that they formed only a few months ago, you wouldn’t know it listening to Devouror’s debut EP Slay For Satan. The black/death metal band was formed by members of Impiety, Depravity, and Infernal Execrator and focuses on fast riffing and all-out violence similar to the early days of the two genres. It’s a quick affair that leaves you little chance to breathe over the course of four songs, but Devouror comes across as a more fully formed band on this debut than groups that have been around for years rather than months.
With Shyaithan (Impiety) serving as one of the two guitarists, it’s not surprising that some of the unrelenting blasting and sheer amount of energy the songwriting brings to the table is reminiscent of his other band. There’s a similar emphasis on speed as the instrumentalists fly through scorching riffs and solos come tearing through your speakers with little warning. Stylistically Devouror pulls in that perfect blend of bestial, unrelenting black and death metal from the late 80s and early 90s with just the right amount of thrash edge to the riffing to balance everything out. The three original songs and killer cover of Sarcofago’s “INRI” make it clear that this is a band made up of seasoned veterans, as even though there’s a raw edge and the riffing and drumming destroys everything in its path there’s a level of polish and technicality to the playing that isn’t always easy to find in the genre. Slay For Satan also boasts production values that fill out the bottom in a truly bludgeoning manner without taking away from the scorching leads, and if Devouror can continue to strike this type of perfect balance on their recordings they’ll continue to make a strong impression.
Antichristo Xul handles all of the vocal work on the EP and has a growl that’s about as low and demonic sounding as you can get. It’s the type of pitch that adds a truly bestial edge to the material, and at times the pitch is reminiscent of both Blasphemy and Archgoat which is damn appealing. The recording puts the vocals slightly above the instrumentals, which allows them to come through as more and more intense as each song progresses. To my knowledge Antichristo Xul has primarily been focused on bass before, but he gives a strong performance here and delivers the type of power needed for a frontman of this type of metal.
Slay For Satan does bear some similarities to the other bands its members play in, but that’s certainly not a bad thing. Devouror starts things off strong with a short EP that bludgeons listeners with unrelenting force for fourteen minutes straight while hinting at even better things still to come. It’s clear that this is more than a simple side project for these guys, and anyone with an interest in black/death metal of this variety will find this debut worthy of their time. Slay For Satan is out now on Metal Zone Records.
-Review by Chris Dahlberg
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