Artist: Arrogant Destruktor
Title: The Old Spirit Remains
Type: Album
Label: Digital / Vicious Witch
The time I became aware of Arrogant Destruktor was around the time I stumbled upon Aggressive Perfector. No similarities in sound at all and not a problem for a normal person but for someone who spent a decade completely confusing Warrior Soul and Love/Hate (no, really) it was confusing. And still is. But regardless I have been following Arrogant Destruktor’s journey since the gloriously aggressive 2018 album ‘Commandments Of War And Necromancy’ initially thanks to my presence at Ave Noctum but I genuinely regard them as one of the most unfairly overlooked black metal bands in the UK. Hence me buying this unheard.
Between their last album ‘Written In Blood From The Blade’ and this they have changed vocalists to Atilla but this is very much still the Arrogant Destruktor I love.
‘Total Maniacal War!’ pretty much explains why; grand riffing, sharp sound and great thundering rhythm section. It has a full, teeth bared growl and snarl. Their riffs are always superbly gnarly and this is no exception, nor is their habit of twisting the tempo on a pinhead and throwing it towards blackthrash. And melody? Oh yes. It is high, keening stuff but like a sharp edge to a very weighty blade. It just has an energy that I want in my black metal and a character. Most bands starting with this feel would begin to edge toward a black/death feel but not Arrogant Destruktor. They keep the guitars feral, the vocals dirty and the drum battery full on.
‘Assandun’ has a nice bounce, groove even, to the opening but never fear the way it smoothly plunges downwards into the eerie black metal is excellent. The drums drive it into battle, the bass punching hardand the shifts in the riff like the chaos that bursts across when the armies meet.
‘Swing Of The Blade’ besides having a cracking true metal title does indeed does indeed have a slow, menancing and melancholy swing to it, a slow stride that with the melody perhaps edges towards Viking metal territory, even doom. But fear not, this still has that fierce Arrogant Destruktor at its heart. It’s a cracking song too; one that stares right into you and explains the world through anothers’ eyes. Its sometimes ponderous nature is riveting, the guitar break the gleaming edge. Wonderful.
‘True Domination’ therefore just hurtles off into the distance as speed. One fo those galloping black metal riffs full of twists and whipcracks. Attila’s vocals here in particular are just huge; savage, arrogant and violent. Superb performance for a song that should be bloody brilliant live too.
‘Obscured By Filth’ a short but intriguing interlude showcasing the synths and Attila’s voice against a pushed back guitar and rhythm section is unexpected and actually spot on. Bridging that weird space between black metal and, dare I say it, the grim side of dungeon synth. This leads into the brilliant ‘Under The Chruch’. The sound whirls around with an insistent tug downwards into the darkness. It makes me feel worryingly dizzy… The clean backing vocals, the melody line bring a religious and horrific aspect to the sound. It latches on to you and never lets go for a moment. Dark, nasty compelling stuff indeed.
‘The Old Spirit Remains’ is, as you might expect perhaps, a stripped back affair. Skeletal, old school, primitive black metal, punk inflected here and there, that slowly fills out and has fine almost heavy metal guitar workout too. But it also has such a deep feeling of roots too, an aching for a past time maybe?
We close with ‘Frost Eternal’. A shivering cold riff, a maelstrom of icy guitars, a dash of old Immortal maybe. Picking you up and throwing you towards the doors with frost on every item of clothing and a hook stuck deep in. A great end to the album indeed.
Arrogant Destruktor have once more delivered. Is it innovative? Who cares it is everything that matters; music superbly written and played with its own identity blazoned across its muscular chest. It has melody and it has emotion. It is vicious and heavy and savage. It is Arrogant Destruktor and it should be shouted from the castle walls.
Just absolutely top notch.
Gizmo
The Old Spirit Remains | Arrogant Destruktor
Arrogant Destruktor – The Old Spirit Remains | Vicious Witch Records
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