Rating: 8.1

Country: Australia

Release Date: 2006

Record Label: Self Released

Track list:
1. Vengeance Whips
2. Proselytiser
3. The Great Subterfuge


Band Website: Assaulter

Assaulter - Omnipotent

S. Berserker- Guitars, Bass, Vocals
A.C.- Drums

Condemned to bearing the yoke of Berserker's formidable reputation as an erstwhile member of Destroyer 666, Assaulter have heretofore claimed a place alongside the innumerable Warslut-alikes that currently populate the fertile Antipodean underground. While the band's previous demo was of sterling quality, unblemished by the thrash-by-numbers aesthetic that plagues some of their less imaginative countrymen, I don't believe it was sufficiently distinguished from Australia's prodigal sons to warrant repeat listens. Beelzebub be praised, then, that the band has decided to take some strides towards carving their own sonic niche.

True, Omnipotent is still visited by the ubiquitous phantom of Unchain The Wolves, and all three tracks are still infused with the zeitgeist of Aussie deathrash, but I truly feel as though the band have struck a beautiful compromise between the raunchy irreverence of Trench Hell and Vomitor and the lofty ambition of D666. Synthesizing the terse concision of Satanic Speed Metal with subdued inflections of Nordic black metal an assertively traditional/speed metal aesthetic and a proclivity for rousing, haunting melody, Assaulter have issued a statement of intent that is, in my mind, even more vociferous than anything from the likes of Denouncement Pyre, Nocturnal Graves, Hunters Moon, Urgrund and the like.

Unapologetically rough-at-the-edges, Assaulter's reckless impetuosity yields its share of endearing foibles- the demo has a very ‘'in-the-studio'' spontaneity to it, and some of the playing can be slightly tighter in spots. Still, such shortcomings can only be identified by pedantic nitpicking, and if you are that anally-retentive, you should really be listening to Dream Theater or other such pigswill instead. A vicious, incisive guitar sound cuts swathes through the dense and trebly mix, as the listener is propelled through a host of adroit tempo shifts. “Vengeance Whips”, saturated as it is with plenty of stirring, bellicose feeling, exercises relative restraint for the most part before escalating into a majestic solo and concluding crescendo. Closing epic “The Great Subterfuge” is an inflammatory burst of anti-clerical sentiment, progressive and positively PREGNANT with intensity and inspired riff-craft. Genius!

If you're as apprehensive about the prevalence of the “Australian Sound” as I am, allow me to assuage such anxieties and prompt you to ORDER this motherfucker. Redolent with the aroma of blood and sun-bathed steel, this one bleeds METAL from every pore.

June 18th, 2007