Album Review: Deiquisitor – Apotheosis (Extremely Rotten Productions / Night Shroud Records)

Comprised of veterans of the Danish scene, Deiquisitor is a fast-paced, aggressive, and atmospheric death metal band influenced heavily by the sound and style of bands who ruled the genre in the early 90s. Their new album, Apotheosis dwells on occult science, ancient mysteries, and apocalyptic themes, and will be released on January 20th, 2023, via Extremely Rotten Productions and Night Shroud Records.

A garish and uncivilised style of death metal, Apotheosis is nine-tracks of nasty and heavy noise. From the first second to the very last, Deiquisitor pull no punches and wear their 90s influences on their sleeves. It’s familiar sounding death metal, but not without impact. Thanks, in part, to the never-dying appeal of this level of heaviness and thanks, in part, to the specific intensity shown by Deiquisitor.

The three-piece certainly know how to take the mind into dark and sinister places here. The themes that feature on the record are prevalent and give the overall thing, a sense of magical horror. This, combined with the grim instrumentation and savage vocals, makes Apotheosis an early contender for ‘most brutal’ sounding album of the year.

Of course, there’s much more to the record that just untamed heaviness. Across the nine tracks, Deiquisitor make their style of death metal that little more interesting by adding complex rhythmic shifts, varying the tempos, and leaning into blackened regions.

Interesting enough to hold the attention and stop the tracks seeping into one another, for the most part. Of course, there is still some of that, after all this is death metal, but a tight runtime and variations on the genre make it much less so.

Ultimately, Deiquisitor’s goal of smashing part the senses, paying tribute to the heyday of the scene, and making it all feel super-dark, is achieved. Apotheosis is the encapsulation of savagery and subliminally seeps into the mind, body and soul through the sheer unsettling nature of its themes.

Links

Bandcamp | Facebook