(written by Islander)
As you gaze upon the torrents of blood cascading down through a cold and desolate landscape on the cover of the record we’re about to premiere, you can begin to get a sense of the musical experience it offers. The artwork (by Julian Mora) matches the record’s name — Bloodsurge.
Bloodsurge is a special split EP that will be released on October 23rd by Dying Victims Productions (who are definitely on a roll this year). It joins together songs from the Finnish band DET (Destructive Elite Terror!) and the Chilean band Critical Defiance, timed to coincide with a joint tour this autumn — and today we give you the chance to hear all of them on the eve of the EP’s release.
DET’s side of the split includes three new songs of blackened speed metal, and as a preview of them we’ll quote from the Dying Victims press materials:
Taking shape during the spring of this year, DET’s vision here was to continue down the same vicious, chaotic path that their DYING VICTIMS debut album had laid out, “but we wanted to tighten the screws even further.” And that tightening is indeed deliciously painful! Rounding out their offering is a suitably rowdy & evil live version of early demo banger “Death Night,” recorded at the Catalonia Extreme Gathering festival in Spain earlier this year.
“Suspiria” is the first of the new songs. As the name implies, it is a supernatural and spooky affair. It begins with drums brutally hammering, the bass lustfully throbbing, and the guitars wildly whirling, like the soundtrack to a demonic orgy. In a dynamic shift, DET also slow the pace and cause the music to sound much more fiendishly sinister.
They continue changing the pace, riotously speeding and grievously slowing, and they augment this diabolical experience with raging growls, ravenous snarls, crazed screams, and exhilarating drum-fills — and they end in a way that’s hellishly glorious. It’s hard to imagine a song more well-suited for the coming Samhain night.
From there DET tear their way through “Necromancer” and “Mutation“. In both songs they again keep the throttle in constant motion, spinning up electrifying spectacles of jubilant horn-headed mayhem but also pulling back to create visions of infernal sorcery and primitive hunger.
In both songs the vocals (which also include wild wails) remain unhinged and horrifying, and the guitar-work (both the riffing and the leads and solos) is stupendous — technically very impressive, phosphorescent in their shine, and sulfurous in their aromas. But in “Mutation” the band also make yet another attention-seizing shift, one that includes head-hooking bass-and-drum interplay beneath an eerily wailing guitar melody.
The final DET song is that live recording of “Death Night“, a full-throttle but also very sinister experience and one that captures the ferocious energy of a live show. It also proves that DET’s technical sharpness (including the fantastic guitar soloing) is just as intact on stage as it is in the studio, while the vocals impossibly seem even more off the hook than in the first three songs.
Be forewarned: all four of these songs are also highly addictive.
DET are:
Atte – Bass
Miikka – Drums, Vocals
Jari – Guitars, Vocals
Critical Defiance also provide three new tracks on the split, plus an acoustic instrumental. We again lead with an excerpt from the Dying Victims press materials:
As always, the Chilean thrashers go right for the throat, wasting no time with their razor-sharp & ripping attack. “These creations were not originally conceived to coexist,” state the band, “yet this split provided the exact space they needed to acquire a shared identity – technical execution, acoustic contrast, the exploration of darker and more extreme territories, and the overwhelming drive of thrash metal in its most violent form.” Of especial note is that instrumental, “Will of Steel,” which poignantly honors thrash’s oft-overlooked tradition of quieter contrast within an album context.
Critical Defiance lead their side of the split with “Kill Off” — a brazen, blaring, and barbaric outpouring of high-octane bedlam. Like DET, it’s obvious that Critical Defiance have technical chops galore, and they put those chops to very good use in this song. The drumming is fast as hell but turns on a dime, and the guitars riotously shift but with razor sharpness.
The song also includes bracing gallops, spitfire soloing, raging vocals that rival those of DET in their berserk ferocity, bursts of gloriously soaring and poisonously sinister melody, and thrashtastic riffs that will get your blood rushing damned fast and hard.
From just that one song it’s obvious what a fine decision it was to pair up these two bands. They are definitely kindred spirits (of the kind that will be set free on Samhain), with the ability to create both wild romps and chilling nightmare visions.
Critical Defiance prove that again with their second song, “No Born“, which initially sounds like the soundtrack to a foul infernal ritual and then takes off like hell’s gates have been thrown open wide. It’s a head-spinning song, and one that also includes ghostly occult melodies that might stiffen the hairs on your neck.
As discussed far above, they follow that one with the acoustic track “Will of Steel“. As advertised, it’s quite a dramatic change — but maybe not tremendously surprising, because the classically influenced picking is technically accomplished, remarkably deft in its brightly darting melody.
We would have been happy if that joyful instrumental track had gone on for minutes more, but not sad that Critical Defiance had one more ripper and rager to discharge before concluding. That last song is “Say no More“. It’s simultaneously ominous and furious, fraught and frantic, faster than hellhounds on the hunt and just as dangerous, but also occasionally desolate in its mood.
It will come as no surprise that the band again pack in lots of swift and head-spinning changes in both tempo and riffing, that the drumwork is astonishingly good, and that the vocals are utterly deranged.
CRITICAL DEFIANCE are:
Felipe Alvarado – Vocals, Guitars
Rodrigo Poblete – Drums
Mauricio Toledo – Guitars
Diego Tello – Bass
Sebastián Palominos – Guitars
And now here’s all the music:
Dying Victims will release Bloodsurge on CD and vinyl LP editions, as well as digitally. Find pre-orders and more info about the bands via the links below.
PRE-ORDER:
https://www.dyingvictims.com
https://dyingvictimsproductions.bandcamp.com/album/bloodsurge
DET:
https://detmusic666.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/Detmetalofficial/
https://www.instagram.com/detmetalofficial
CRITICAL DEFIANCE:
https://criticaldefiance.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/criticaldefiance/