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DEROGATORY
Above All Else

FDA Rekotz (2013)
Rating: 8.5/10

California’s Derogatory somehow have a knack of reinventing the classic old school sound and yet not making it so derivative.

A serious nod to old school brutality, this nine-track debut is some serious Morbid Angel worship. Every twisted chord to every blackened melody and from those David Vincent-inspired vocals to the merging of speed with unholy dynamics, this is Morbid Angel through and through. But not once do I find myself dismissing such a tribute because Derogatory are clearly talented musicians who have a total understanding of what it takes to make an excellent death metal record.

There’s no sign of polished modern dynamics, and not a hint of boredom as the quartet rattle through a batch of gems which leave me salivating for more. Believe me, if I’d been passed this album on a dodgy cassette I’d have been convinced that I’d stumbled upon a long forgotten band from around 1990!

Derogatory are fronted by Christian Ordonez who is also responsible for the evil rhythm guitars that sew this despicable album together, and in Joe Viwatkurkul he has found a right-hand man whose leads sound as if they’ve been wrenched straight from Morbid Angel’s Blessed Are The Sick (1991), such are their accessible yet blasphemous nature.

Above All Else is superb throughout, as the band create masterful grooves which drag the listener in but then quickly spit them out with a flailing machine gun fire of speed and festering drums from Jose Coyoton.

There is an element of the complex about this opus, with tracks such as ‘Cryopreservation’, the title track, and more so ‘Foretold In My House Of Séance’ tricking the listener into structures of safety before cavorting and twisting like some unearthly serpent and wrenching our heads from our shoulder. And within these intricacies is where the bass of Daniel Alonzo comes to the fore as, just like with so many Floridian acts of years gone by, he’s given room to maneuvre within the aggression, enabling tracks such as ‘Twisted Aeons Of Burning Galaxy’ to break from the norm.

I’ve no doubt that if this album had emerged back in the early 90s then we’d be talking about Derogatory as one of the classic death metal bands, but as it stands they are 20 or so years too late. However, that’s no reason for you not to enjoy Above All Else for what it is; a fine opus that happily nods to the past but still tries to achieve its goal at being a very serious contender for death metal album of the year.

Neil Arnold

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