DISTILLATOR
Summoning The Malicious
Empire (2017)
Rating: 7/10
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Summoning The Malicious is the third entry in the discography of Dutch trio Distillator. Since their birth in 2013 they’ve sent forth an EP (EP 2013), a debut full-length (2015’s Revolutionary Cells) and now this new product.
Even if you’ve not heard these thrashers before, you’ll sort of know by the logo and cover art that these guys are part of the new wave of thrash metal. The band provide a fast and furious escapade featuring tight, speeding rhythms, nice, compact solos, rattling drums and no frills, but occasionally high-pitched vocal outburst, and catchy riffs all round.
Summoning The Malicious is not a brilliant record, but if you like straight down the line thrash metal that is rarely complex then I’d certainly recommend this opus. Thankfully, Distillator are not a band that leans towards to the comedy thrash slant. Instead, we get an array of solid, infectious thrash melodies which bridge the gap between the British thrash scene of the 80s and the much mimicked Bay Area sound.
Track titles such as ‘Blinded By Chauvinism’, ‘Mechanized Existence’ (my favourite track), and ‘Algorithmic Citizenship’ suggest a band displaying intelligence, and it’s nice to hear some progressive elements creeping into play – especially with the diverse strains of the aforementioned ‘Mechanized Existence’. But it’s nothing the mind can’t cope with. My only gripe being the at times clicky drum sound and rather thin production, whereby the album just seems to lack any apparent weight. However, the trio more than makes up for this with their ability to keep the listener engaged.
The varying tempos, as with the title track and the chugging ‘Enter The Void’, are a joy to behold. Again, I refer to ‘Algorithmic Citizenship’ for a prime example of complex tinges. Meanwhile, there’s a nice bass trudge on ‘Stature Of Liberty’, which also provides a more melodic traditional metal hastiness.
I don’t personally have much call for the squealing end of the vocal spectrum which frontman Laurens H. seems insistent on throwing in at the end of many a sentence, but maybe he feels that by emitting such squeaks will separate his band from the droves? Even so, Distillator are quickly becoming masters of mid-paced thrashiness, and are rarely harmful even when they engage in pacier sections.
I would still have preferred a dash more heaviness and darker mood. For instance, the suspenseful grooves of ‘The King Of Kings’ are to be admired – slow, pensive aggression passages which really add to the atmosphere – and there’s some dazzling fret work on offer on closer ‘Megalomania’ with its hurtling drum, but it still all sounds rather tepid. However, let’s not take too much away from the guys who’ve crafted a comfortable, easy-on-the-ears thrash record that certainly harkens back to the 1980s, and for what it lacks in aggression is made up for with its philosophies and refreshing arrangements.
Neil Arnold
