(written by Islander)
The prime curator of Personal Records continues to prove the depth and quality of his tastes by joining forces with the Belgian black metal band Bokkerijders for the release of their debut album Crush Kill Destroy on October 23rd.
The album’s name points the way to the nature of Bokkerijders‘ concoctions, but not the entirety of their nature. Even the simple label of “black metal” doesn’t tell the whole story, because the band have clearly imbibed other elixirs from the casks of heavy and extreme music while creating their own intoxicating brews.
You’ll see what we mean when you hear the album track we’re premiering today — “Calcination Pyre“. But before we get to that, we should ponder the band’s name, shouldn’t we?
An English speaker can try to slowly sound out the letters of Bokkerijders, but the result won’t come very close to its proper pronunciation. The meaning is of course even more incomprehensible. And yet this is why we have The Font of All Human Knowledge, which tells us that the name (or something quite close to it) translates in English to “Buckriders“, and further:
The Buckriders (Dutch: Bokkenrijders, French: Chevaliers du bouc) are a part of South-Eastern Dutch and North-Eastern Belgian folklore. They are witches, who rode through the sky on the back of flying bucks provided to them by the Devil to rob and murder common people and church possessions….
Throughout the 18th century, groups of thieves and other criminals adopted the belief to frighten the inhabitants of southern Limburg…. The buckriders were feared and despised by the common people throughout the area because of the ruthlessness and violence the robberies were committed by. The belief existed that the buckriders could travel fast and vast distances through the skies to rob in a widespread area and be home before dawn to remain obscured in their crimes….
Because of the link to the occult and witchcraft, authorities accused a large number of potentially innocent men of being buckriders and the majority of suspects were tortured and subsequently convicted of crimes they initially denied having committed. The buckriders were considered both criminals and witches that made a pact with the devil. The witch trials and robbery trials can not be seen separately in that sense: the accusations always included both robbery and witchcraft.
Well, that’s undoubtedly a great deal more than you needed to know about the history of the name Bokkenrijders, but it’s not a bad idea to have that history swimming through your head as you listen to “Calcination Pyre“. And why? Because it’s a song that’s both witchy and vicious.
It’s also immediate proof that Bokkerijders know how to brew intoxicating riffs. With fast-punching rhythmic grooves kicking the song ahead, the guitars generate vivid pulsations of sinister, slithering, and grit-slathered melody. As the beats more slowly romp the riffing diabolically blares, and then all hell breaks loose.
With drums furiously blasting, the guitars carry forward those opening riffs but at drastically greater speed, joined by wild throat-cutting screams riding high. It’s an outburst of spectacular, fret-burning, blood-rushing savagery, an experience that reaches its crescendo through a swirling, soaring, and orgiastically ecstatic guitar solo that’s the witchiest and most electrifying episode of the song yet (which is saying something).
As some classical writer once said, prepare for some of the most fun you can have with your clothes still on, and press play below.
Personal Records refers to Crush Kill Destroy as “a fitting epitaph for lead guitarist Wouter Lemmens, who passed away in September 2025.” They also tell us that the band “will now soldier on as a power-trio”.
Personal Records will release Crush Kill Destroy on CD and digital formats, and you can order them now. Following the links we’ve also included a stream of the album’s previously released title song. (Feel free to take your clothes off for this one.)
PRE-ORDER:
https://www.personal-records.com/product/pre-orders-bokkerijders-crush-kill-destroy-cd/
https://personal-records.bandcamp.com/album/crush-kill-destroy
BOKKERIJDERS:
https://bokkerijders.bandcamp.com
https://www.facebook.com/datwijbokkerijderszijn