Rating: 9.5

Country: Australia/Netherlands

Release Date: 2002

Track list:
1. Black City - Black Fire
2. Clenched Fist
3. Cold Steel...
4. Sons Of Perdition
5. Raped 03:16
6. The Calling
7. Savage Pitch
8. Witch Hunter
9. Shadow

Total playing time: 35:30

Band Website: Destroyer 666

Destroyer 666 - Cold Steel...For An Iron Age

KK Warslut - Vocals, guitar
Shrapnel - Guitar
S. Berserker - Bass, vocals
Mersus - Drums

Destroyer 666 isn't just the Antichrist, Destroyer 666 is metal. Thrash, black, death, whatever you wish to call them, the fact is that this Australian quartet is everything a metal band should aspire to be. Their first two LPs, ‘Unchain the Wolves' [1997] and ‘Phoenix Rising' [2000] were both as close as any two albums can get to being instant classics - both possessing the winning combination of memorable songwriting, infectious riffing, impeccable musicianship and a genuine sense of passion for all that is leather 'n' spikes. D666 let you know exactly whom they tip their cap to, but still don't sound quite like anyone else out there, which is of the utmost importance nowadays in such an overcrowded metal underground. This newest* work not only continues to carry the torch, but does so in style.

'Cold Steel...' is D666's shortest, most compact work to date, and in my opinion also the most "retro". The band has compressed their highly textured sound, filtered out some of the melodic death metal sophistication of ‘Phoenix Rising' and the [early 90's] Bathory-laden epicness of ‘Unchain the Wolves', and proceeded just thrash the fuck out of everything. There are no bona-fide epic tracks here, in fact, none of these songs last much longer than five minutes, but at the same time these nine songs are by no means any less anthemic than anything the band has done before. Each song still contains one of those Motörhead-ish 'shout-with-a-raised-fist' choruses, as well as D666's trademark 'war trumpet' guitar leads to go along with song structures that are sure to take any metalhead back to when thrash was king and poseurs were frightened.

Just don't confuse ‘Cold Steel's thrashtastic familiarity with a lack of originality. This album may well be the best elements of ‘Reign In Blood', ‘The Legacy', ‘Infernal Overkill', ‘Endless Pain', ‘In the Sign of Evil' and ‘Seven Churches' all rolled into one, but there really is so much more to it. Warslut & co. are certainly not afraid of mixing in some surprising influences with the balls-out thrash style. For example, listening closely to the more midpaced tracks on this album [i.e. "The Calling" and "Witch Hunter" ] will reveal a subtle but pervasive nod to European folk music, which could very well be a result of Warslut's recent collaboration with Alan Averill Nemtheanga of Primordial, a top-notch Irish band that is undoubtedly the best in the business at infusing traditional folk with metal, and in fact, on these D666 tracks the blending of the two styles is just as seamless and effortless as it is in Primordial's finest moments. Aside from that, Destroyer 666's sound just has such a remarkable level of depth that it really goes above and beyond that of any 80's thrash album. The fluidity of the arrangements and the uncanny placement of hooks gives off the unmistakeable impression that these guys are true professional musicians, which is [with all due respect] much more than could be said for just about anyone in any of the cream of the crop of 80's thrash bands back during the genre's golden age. Of course, the difference between Destroyer 666 and the vast majority of other bands that can lay claim to the 'professional musician' tag is that they haven't forgotten that music is meant to come from the heart first, and from the mind second.

In short, ‘Cold Steel... For an Iron Age' is not just thrash - it's überthrash. It's the kind of thrash that the guys like Mille Petrozza, Quorthon, Mike Sifringer and Mike Torrao always wanted to play but never quite had the skills to, and if they ever attained those skills, their original aspirations had changed by the time they did. Sure, it comes 15 or 16 years too late to make the kind of impact on metal that it could have, but it's still a damn fine album with only the slightest of pitfalls [i.e. the final track seems unfinished]. And at the risk of sounding elitist, I feel that Destroyer 666 has become a litmus test to separate the bona-fide metalhead from one that just doesn't -get- it... if you like this band, you're metal; if you don't, you're not. No fucking apologies.

September 14th, 2005