Destroyer 666 - Terror Abraxas

Rating: 9.3

Country: Australia/Netherlands

Release Date: 2003

Track list:
1. A Breed Apart
2. Those Who Dare Beyond
3. Trialed by Fire
4. Terror
5. Prometheus

Total playing time: 21:59

Destroyer 666 - Terror Abraxas

KK Warslut - Vocals, Guitar
Shrapnel - Guitar
Paul Van Ryswijk - Bass, Vocals(too?)
Mersus - Drums

I could start off by saying I'm not really a big black metal fan. Even though Deströyer 666 maybe would not qualify as pure black metal, they certainly are somewhere on the borderline. (Probably with one foot in the black metal land and if you would draw a line straight up from the ground – at the border, hitting Deströyer 666 right in the crotch – it probably wouldn't hit them right between both balls, but rather hit on the right side (assuming black metal is on the left) and thereby leaving both balls in black metal land). But(t) I've always been a big fan of Deströyer 666, from the first time I heard "Eternal Glory of War" until the last time I gave their latest release 'Terror Abraxas' a spin.

What the Oz/Dutch band showcase on this fantastic release is a continuation of the fantastic formula they used on the fantastic 2002 release 'Cold Steel… for an Iron Age'. If you, like me, almost obsessively listened to 'Cold Steel…' over and over, then you will exhale a great stinking sigh of pleasure along with a nasty “aaaaahhhh!!!!” once "A Breed Apart" hits you. It's like taking a junkie back to the glory days of his addiction, a wet reminiscence of the (mis)use of a “fantastic” formula*. The same goes with "Those Who Dare Beyond", fantastic!

Now, on the third track is where things are getting spiced up! The black metal (I think we agreed on calling it that?) Deströyer 666 play, heavily spiced up with thrash as it is, gets a fresh injection of Viking era Bathory styled choirs and atmosphere. This epic majesty of a song is definitely the highlight of this MCD, and probably (along with "I am the Wargod (Ode to the Battle Slain)" from 'Phoenix Rising') my favourite song ever composed by this band, so far. "Terror" continues in the style of the two opening tracks and is a great Australian and anti-christian fist in the face. The last song, "Prometheus", has an intro that has the same effect on me every time I hear it. It starts off, with an arrangement that gives me an uneasy feeling and I twitch a little until I get a bit into the song. This, too, is a great song and my twitching soon transforms into some sort of physical exercise that expresses that I like it instead of the obnoxious jerking I display while hearing the intro. I then look around and try to look as cool as possible to avoid blowing my cover-up. I DO like this song, you know?

This is a great cd. It's fucking fantastic.

*Stay off the drugs, kids!

May 10th, 2005