Look, you come at me with kaiju themed metal, naming your band after the death machine that stopped everyone’s favorite fire-breathing lizard back in 1954’s Gojira, all I’m saying is you’re setting some pretty heavy expectations. Ya boy’s got those credentials, and he sees that bitchin’ cover art and gets weird Cryptic Slaughter vibes and wants to know: does Oxygen Destroyer bring the goods? Does Guardian Of The Universe rampage its way through the metal morass of summer, bringing destruction and tasty riffs in the wake of its devastation?

Yes. Yes it does.

This is the third album from the Seattle death/thrash quartet, having released the wonderfully titled Bestial Manifestations of Malevolence and Death and Sinister Monstrosities Spawned by the Unfathomable Ignorance of Humankind in 2018 and 2021, respectively. The angle here is serious speed metal and thrash riffing with a death metal attitude, and listening to the pummeling roar of early tracks like “Onslaught of the Precambrian Hordes” and “Possessing the Putrified Remnants of the Unholy God Incarnate” the raw vibe skewed a little more to the death metal side in the best possible way.

That’s not the case with Guardian of the Universe. There’s a beefiness to the production that adds some heft to what sounds like full on speed thrash to my ears. Opener “Guardian of the Universe (Final Hope)” moves at lightning speed, riff and riff spilling forth in a frenzy. This thing moves, and the dual guitars of Joey Walker and Lord Kaiju, who also provides the vocals, are super tight and razor sharp, sitting in the mid to upper frequencies along with Kaiju’s high pitched raspy roar before shuddering down to a classic S.O.D. style breakdown. The terror continues on the next track “Drawing Power From The Empathetic Priestess Of Tranquility” which is even faster and more brutal, the band spending all their riff credits (as well as their vocabulary) on some epic songs and song titles.

With nine songs in only 33 minutes, Guardian Of The Universe really only knows one speed, and that’s basically full out. The next two tracks couple for some of the best attacks on the album, both “Shadow of Evil” and “My Name is Legion” snapping fingers and breaking necks with the whiplash. In lesser hands this could all come across as a senseless wash, so kudos again to the band for tight arrangements and a production/mix that keeps everything wide enough that it’s not just an assault to your eardrums. Don’t get me wrong: it’ll definitely assault you, but it won’t wear you out with a thin, whining mix that cramps everything in a thin band of sound. Everything from the guitars to the pounding drums (great rhythm section here courtesy of Chris Craven on drums and a barely audible but solid foundation on bass from Paul Wright who knows where to be in this mix) sits where it needs to, and when things are especially furious like on the insane 1:50 runtime of “Nightmarish Visions Of The Devil’s Envoy” you’ll appreciate that the band can play that fast and still hear everything.

It usually feels like a drought this late in the summer when it comes to metal, so it’s great to hear bands like Oxygen Destroyer picking up the slack with some truly frenetic and punishing metal that doesn’t sound like a bog or a slog. Guardian Of The Universe was a huge surprise to me, and the way they accented the thrashier elements – particularly on a late track favorite like “Awaking The Malevolent Destroyer Of The Heavens and Earth” is fast bringing this up to the top of my list of excellent 2024 metal. May you find no cover from this giant’s path of destruction, and may you lie bruised and beaten in the wake of terrific metal.

-Chris

---

Guardian Of The Universe is available August 9 from Redefining Darkness. For more information on Oxygen Destroyer, check out the band’s Facebook page.