Twenty-five years have passed since death metal pioneers Entombed released their seminal debut, Left Hand Path, and yet the sound that the Swedes (and their peers) defined at the now legendary Sunlight Studios in Stockholm – that furious and filthy buzzsaw guitar sound conjured via the wonders of a Boss HM-2 pedal – continues to draw in fresh legions of converts.
Hailing from Dresden, Germany, Deathrite are the latest, and arguably most gloriously obnoxious, Sunlight acolytes to emerge, and their new album Revelation Of Chaos is a supremely gnarly demonstration of a revered old-school vibe’s ageless power.
“It’s such a super-heavy, raw and warm analogue sound,” says vocalist Tony Heinrich. “It gives you a feeling of standing right in front of the band! Sunlight Studios created one of the best chainsaw sounds you can make with a guitar, designed to rip your head off with death metal and leave you lying next to your record player with open wounds… ha ha ha!”
With plenty of hardcore intensity and crusty clangour augmenting their early-90s death metal worship, Deathrite could easily follow in the footsteps of bands like Black Breath and Trap Them, luring in a diverse array of folk from across the underground punk and metal spectrum.
But just in case their timely din comes across as too inclusive and good-natured, Tony cheerily notes that Revelation Of Chaos is an album of “anthems for the upcoming apocalyptic war! The title tries to describe a feeling of desperation as you lie in a bloody trench next to your dead comrades after another nuclear assault. This is a heavy, raw and filthy record!”
With a new album twitching in the starting blocks, Deathrite are currently planning a major campaign of destruction across Europe in 2015 and a tour of south-east Asia is planned for next year, all of which indicates that there must be plenty of people craving some heavy music that has dirt under its fingernails. Be cautious before approaching this band, however, because the way Tony describes a Deathrite show suggests that full body armour may be required.
“You can expect a heavy wall of sound,” he snarls. “Pounding drums, a bass that melts your face and hurts your stomach, and a ripping guitar sounding like a chainsaw that will cut your body into thousand pieces. We’re preaching end-time prophecies to killer crowds that are headbanging, drinking, sweating and begging for the salvation through fire.”
This sound like our kind of thing. Count us in, you mad bastards.
Revelation Of Chaos is out now via Prosthetic
