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PERVERSOR
Anticosmocrator

Hells Headbangers (2015)
Rating: 8/10

I’m not sure I want to know what an “anticosmocrator” is, but what I do know is that it’s the title of the long-awaited sophomore blast from Chilean ear raiders Perversor who took 2008 by storm with their vicious debut assault Cult Of Destruction. Since such wretched sounds, the band has been busy with a few split projects and a brace of EPs.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned with South American extreme metal over the years, it’s the fact you know what you’re gonna get and it’s always going to be good. Perversor plays a fast brand of vociferous thrash metal; typically cavernous and barbaric but obscure – indeed, you’d think this hellish tumult had been wrenched from some crusty old cassette released back in 1987.

Perversor are not the filthiest of the South American black / thrash hordes, but their cacophony is still one which should give great pleasure to ghouls who love to feast their fangs, ears and eyes on hyper-blast drums, nasty rasping vocals and a guitar racket which at times brings to mind the horrendous, Satanic chaos of Sarcófago. This is quite an infectious opus, though; at times galloping with demonic intent and nifty on its feet to the point that the drums are incredibly catchy even in their haste, and the guitars have a breezy feel to them even if they leave you scalped by the time of the strains of album closer ‘Metal Massacre’ have left the building.

The band’s 2010 EP was titled Demon Metal and that pretty much sums up this unhealthy dose of speed, which covers nine tracks, all of which are spewed out at such a primitive speed that your ears will bleed profusely for days afterwards. The guys behind such noise are Torrid on vocals, Morbest playing bass, Knernet handling drums, and the guitar attack is brought to you unpleasantly by Abominable.

Anticosmocrator is constructed of a selection of short, sharp shocks to the system beginning with the speeding ‘Inhale’, which also has slight hints of old Sepultura while hinting at blacker climes and war metal aesthetics. The racing guitars and frenetic drums are classic black thrash conjuring, although it’s the drums which tend to take the lead throughout, giving the album a very authentic old school feeling rather than the aura of a band mimicking.

The title track begins with a classy chug before quickly injecting another shot of Satanic pace; the cymbals have a hideous convincing hiss about them and the vocal coughs eerily echo through the dungeons of the mind to great effect. Pluck any tirade from this 28-minute melting pot of hostility though, and you’ll be swept up by black, cutting waves built upon scathing rhythms and at times a tinny production which works wonderfully and adds an extra vim of energy to proceedings.

My favourite chunks on the opus includes the scornful ‘Venomous Madness’ where again the drums take to the fore; this is a truly rattling beast of a track with choppier percussion and a busy, buzzing guitar. Meanwhile, ‘Old Temples Of Death’ has that musty 80s feel, particularly in the deeper vocal coughs and tumultuous clanks.

It’s all very hellish indeed, wrapping itself up by way of the aforementioned ‘Metal Massacre’; a nasty epileptic gallop which will have you sewing that Perversor patch onto your denim jacket faster than you can say “anticosmocrator”!

Boasting elements of punk fury and sordid black-thrash chaos, Perversor’s latest album suggests a band truly possessed by evil… so let us applaud such bedlam.

Neil Arnold

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