Audio Assaults 420/666 vol. 5

* This is the original Deiphago review at first listen (moderately toked). It was found at another computer and is reposted from the original April 9 create date. The review after this is from the super stoned listening sessions.  Thanks.

Deiphago
I, The Devil
Hells Headbangers

Thanks to Emil Wave of Darkness ‘Zine for this killer exclusive advance promo. The vinyl and tapes were already preordered and on the way, but Deiphago’s merciless new assault has just got to be played in full damaging volume ahead of the arrival.

I the Devil marks another step up for Deiphago. By the time the kvlt demo was planned, they have already enlisted E. Mejia to join their conquest for 666% pillaging and worldwide destruction, but not without exploring inwards. It is a perfect blend of black raging  violence they are known for, with disharmonic, experimental, prog shaped riffs & structures.

They already did it via “6x6x6” and on other tracks from the mighty Into the Eye of Satan. They meld super fast atonal exclusive Deiphago scales + sinewy riffs into their brutal black metal framework without letting up. It becomes subliminal genocide mind erasing warfare, and they freely use it as a weapon to ignite Dimethyltryptamine inside your brains to eject you to the abyss, while pummeling you in the physical plane at both the same time.

It is both a challenge and a next step up approach for I the Devil while continuing their brutal nihilistic momentum. And, they did it – flawless victory.

Adding these seemingly disparate elements into their signature sound might make you think they had to “balance” or adjust the speed and brutality, just to accomodate the dense and complicated notes. But that’s where you’re wrong again.

It’s like the black terror mutant mix of the heavier elements of the evil early 90’s obscure black metal and death, noise warfare styles, but with the gas pedal stepped on it with a heavy brick. And add the dissonant chaos riffs tinged with large doses of black acid, using oddtime, midtempo, and total speed combinations, made more punishing up to the Deiphago standards.

Their choice of studio and producer – Godcity with Kurt Ballou – accentuates this alchemy of sounds. The full on red levels of Ballou’s noisecore, punk, hardcore, and experimental past portfolio, together with his unmistakable pro production and engineering creates a bigger, more direct but detailed Deiphago sound.

Handpicking Ballou was another key to their vision: in order to harness these elements into a Deiphago album, making it a part of these sonic SATANIK audio rituals, as it should be.