Shooting Oblivion: Part I

Jun 14 • International News, Reviews, Shooting Oblivion, The Slumbering Ent • 2883 Views • No Comments on Shooting Oblivion: Part I

Connectivity grants accessibility yet inadvertently hastens its lapse into oblivion, if left unattended. The case in point being albums released after the 2000s. The classical era of the 80s and 90s will never be forgotten as they witnessed the pioneering efforts of some of the genre’s first practitioners and for a start had relatively fewer bands. This leaves everything after 2000 an age of reflection and consolidation, well if you can call it that. The internet although clearly helped in generating a wider audience, has quite to the contrary, also buried several good post-millennium albums under useless informational debris.

This brand new series is our little way to unearth those albums once again, and shine upon it the light that it truly deserves.

Today our friend and fellow writer Dipankar Mohanty examines one such album.

Artist : Persecutor

Country: Poland

Genre: Black/Thrash

Album under consideration: Bestial Overkill

Release Date : 2011

Label: Time Before Time (now defunct)

This one pretty much slipped under the radar. You know when a band just wants to have fun. There’s a certain vibe to the ecstasy boiling in the bones and flesh where the whole motive is to enjoy the album carelessly. Right from the album cover, where a skeleton driving a car at full speed to the pointy logo of the band, it immediately hits you that this must contain some thrash metal. Well, surprise! It indeed does. Remember the old days when thrash metal announced its appearance? Back when fans just wanted to have a little fun? The scene of patched denim jackets and a beer in hand was pretty common with the teutonic thrash metal trio, megadeth, metallica, slayer, overkill and exodus bursting in the background. Persecutor manages to evoke that same kind of feeling, except that they are in the new millennium. The giants have long exhausted their fuel, so it is up to the new bands to carry on their legacy.

Persecutor is not going to change the landscape any time soon, but they at least show potential of a force to be reckoned with in the future. The band plays no frills black/thrash metal much in the vein of the early days of the German thrash metal scene. It doesn’t get much simpler than that. There isn’t much variation across songs that require elaboration. Right off the bat, ‘battlerape’ with a funny intro bursts into an old kreator riff with screeching black metal vocals on top. This is pretty much the pattern in every song that follows till the last track. Persecutor keeps on pummeling some straightforward one-dimensional black/thrash numbers in ‘mental wars’ and ‘ironfist dictatorship’. It’s just a good old speed thrash fest. ‘Darkened call’ and ‘bestial overkill’ continue the assault. As the band nears the end of its assault, Slayer-ish riffs in ‘venom of deceit’ burst through the speakers which make you say ‘Aha, I’ve heard that before’! ‘Ancient conjuration’ ends the 40 minute album in true thrash style. It’s quick and nasty. The ride is over just like that.

This is not an album that is unique nor is it attempting to recreate the black/thrash genre. It is just made by fans who loved their idols and they do it without any pretenses. So bring out the bottles and patched denim jackets. Disclaimer: this review is not meant to promote any kind of alcohol intake. Peace. Over and out!