Persecutory - "Towards the Ultimate Extinction" (Godz ov War Productions, 2017)

Band: Persecutory
Title: Towards the Ultimate Extinction
Genre: Black/Thrash Metal with Death Metal elements
Year: 13th February 2017
Time: 42 min circa
Rating: 79/100












I don't review a Turkish band here since 7th November 2012, when I reviewed the excellent debut EP titled "Through the Eternal Damnation" by Engulfed. The funny thing is that I recently received some request reviews from Turkey, so expect some news about this country! Meanwhile, today it's the turn of Persecutory, an hateful quartet born in 2014 whose drummer A.D.B. was into the first line-up of the mentioned Engulfed. And now Persecutory, after a 2016 EP, released the devastating debut album "Towards the Ultimate Extinction" for the fantastic Polish label Godz ov War Prod. And do you know what I want to say now? The album's title reflects totally the sound of Persecutory, so prepare for it!


In fact, this is an album that is a total barbaric extinction throughout its 7 songs since it showcase a very unhuman violence able to scare even the most brutal South American bands! This is due, for example, to the drumwork of A.D.B., which bombard the listeners with an hallucinating series of stormy blast-beats, while the riffing is focused basically on the iceness of black metal but contaminating it with frequent doses of thrash metal (also concerning the drums) and don't forget also death metal touches here and there, in order to create a more merciless wall of sound. But, then, there is the singer, Tyrannic Profanatör, a total possessed that spew forth tons and tons of rage and hate showing also a very good versatility so to experiment, among the others, totally evil and sick vocals worthy of Attila Csihar (the titletrack) or malign whisperers ("Hegemony of the Ruinous Impurity"), collaborating, in addition, with the guitarist Vulgargoat in order to make this ultra-brutal assault in a more chaotic way. But it's incredible that Tyrannic Profanatör vomit systematically a very violent "AAAAAH!!!" in the first seconds of every song, included the opening track "Pillars of Dismay", that has a totally killer and disarming start also because there is no intro...and I HATE the intros, so it's okay! Finally, you have to be careful about the production of this album, which is dirty, dusty and reverberated, also if, in some points, is a bit confusing (especially in the indomable "Awakening the Depraved Era") due to the vocals too high if compared with the guitars.

But speaking the truth, this album doesn't express only an unhuman violence. In fact, there is need to say that the songs are very well structured also because many of them last 5 minutes and beyond, so you can hear a lot of tempo changes and good technical skills. This is shown perfectly by the same titletrack, a gigantic monolith of almost 12 minutes of lenght where Persecutory express their art in a total way also through very atmospheric doom-laden moments characterized by freezing arpeggios. Also "Along the Infernal Hallways" is very effective, and this is a song with a more melodic approach thanks to a slowdown where there is a great guitar solo. And speaking about solos, there is even one of them with some oriental influences in the short (for the standards of Persecutory, at least) "Hegemony of the Ruinous Impurity". So, this band definitely doesn't lack in creativity but my complaint is that, since the incredible all-embracing nature of the titletrack, this should be the last track of the album so to end it in the most perfect way.

Summarizing all my delirious words, "Towards the Ultimate Extinction" is a very good effort that show a mega-barbaric black/thrashing madness with death metal elements and, in certain moments, I have to say that Persecutory reminds me the old Mayhem. The only song that I don't like is "Awakening the Depraved Era", also because the violence expressed in this album is sometimes so excessive that I think it was a good idea to offer a slower song in the middle of tracklist. But, on the other hand, the standout numbers of mine are "Pillars of Dismay", "Along the Infernal Hallways", "Hegemony of the Ruinous Impurity" and, without no fuckin' doubts, the titletrack, that is so good that you could buy this album only to listen to this monumental effort of rare proportions!

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Tracklist:

1 - Pillars of Dismay
2 - Towards the Ultimate Extinction
3 - Till Relentless Salvation Comes
4 - Along the Infernal Hallways
5 - Awakening the Depraved Era
6 - Hegemony of the Ruinous Impurity
7 - Maelstroms of Antireligious Chaos

Line-up:

Tyrannic Profanatör - vocals
Vulgargoat - guitars/vocals
Infectious Torment - guitars/bass
A.D.B. - drums

FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/persecutory666/
BandCamp: http://persecutory.bandcamp.com/releases
Godz ov War Prod: http://godzovwar.com/