In olden times, before I largely gave up trying to explain the appeal of extreme metal to my non-metalhead friends, I’d refer to the high energy, the explosiveness, the barely submerged aura of danger lurking beneath the surface, the sense of abandon and release that comes from listening. Usually, what I had in mind were various forms of turbo-charged death metal, both melodic and near-atonal, the kind that unleashes a blizzard of down-tuned guitar chords, machine-gun drum assaults, and inhuman roars in place of what conventionally passes for singing.

I’ve been thinking about those sentiments as I’ve listened to the new album from Poland’s Deivos, even though I rarely bother to explain myself to the uninitiated any more. What Deivos delivers is the kind of death metal that should appeal hugely to fans of bands like Decapitated and Origin — and I’m certainly one of those. The music — all of it — is a jet stream of head-whipping fury. You’d have to listen long and hard to the individual songs on the album to distinguish them in your mind after you finish listening, because they follow a very similar pattern. But the pattern is so damned appealing that, at least for me, this is a minor quibble.

And the pattern consists of this: Brutally fast, razor-sharp, blood-spattering riffage, blasting with the heat of an acetylene torch, segmented into massive slamming beats that deliver a physical jolt. Tempos that unpredictably stagger a step forward or a step back or just plain stomp on your neck, just to prevent you from getting too comfortable. Drums that follow a near-inhuman pace, a percussive holocaust designed to provoke a non-stop adrenaline rush.  (more after the jump . . .) Continue reading »