I’m not gonna lie to you: I didn’t mean to have back-to-back reviews featuring bands who both had a member die way too young.  It kinda got to me in a pretty heavy way.  I knew I needed the next review I wrote to be something that could only be an unabashed good time.  And lo, there I saw Demiser glowing with unholy light on our promo sheet.  Thanks to the almost incessant hype from our fearless editor Josh, we’ve all become quite enamored with the South Carolina quintet, and Slave to the Scythe should be nothing short of a slam dunk.

Through the Gate Eternal was an album that, as previously stated, was highly praised both in our group chat by Josh, in written form by Chris, and by everyone on our Album of the Month chat…god, three years ago?  What the hell?  Anyway, to say that there was a little bit of hype around Through the Gate Eternal might be putting it lightly.  And it seems we weren’t the only ones who took notice either.  In the short (yes, short) time since their debut, Demiser have been touring pretty much incessantly and signed to the almighty Metal Blade Records (via Blacklight Media), a much-deserved laurel for a band who rose through the ranks the old way: by busting their asses and playing evil, ripping, fucking brutal music that is, according to the band, “long on fun and short on pretense.”  It’s exactly the kind of heavy metal your grandma thinks all heavy metal is.  Beyond the rise to the big leagues, not much has changed about the sound of Demiser.  You can pretty much take one look at the cover art and know exactly what you’re in for.  The lyrical themes of the album?  Hell, fire and hellfire.  Their influences?  Venom, Bathory, Arnold Schwarzenegger movies, alcohol and Satan.  Written almost exclusively on the road and recorded in the oppressive summer heat of South Carolina (where the band allegedly turned off the AC in the studio to, uh, get in the spirit), Slave to the Scythe is an album soaked in gasoline, covered in brimstone and reeking of swamp ass.

One of the biggest takeaways that we collectively agreed upon when discussing Through the Gate Eternal at length is the amount of seriousness that Demiser the band take themselves with is the only correct one for the music they make.  Any more, and they would become a parody of themselves; any less and they would be a one-off joke band.  Fortunately, I’m ecstatic to announce that Slave to the Scythe doesn’t just thread that needle, it takes it to a whole new level.  Everything that worked about Demiser’s debut is expanded upon and made more grandiose thanks to the increased production quality and musical chops that come with a fancy new label and a lot of time spent performing music in front of people.  The riffs are still absolutely insane, and capture the distilled essence of what made that first wave of black metal so fucking exciting.  Cuts like “Total Demise” and the title track show a new, slightly more technical and melodic side to the band, especially in the electrifying solos from Gravepisser and Phallomancer (who gets his turn for an eponymous song in “Phallomancer the Phallomancer”).  Meanwhile, lead single “Hell is Full of Fire” and standout “Carbureted Speed” fully capture the energy and flat out fun that made the metal world take notice of Demiser.  I’m not sure that Slave to the Scythe necessarily *needs* an eight-minute closer in “In Nomine Baphomet” but Demiser also isn’t a band that minces around.  If they’ve got eight minutes of your time, they’re going to use all eight minutes of it, and that brutal efficiency is what they accomplish across the board on Slave to the Scythe.

Slave to the Scythe is exactly the shot in the arm that I needed.  When they say this album is short on pretense, they really mean Demiser don’t fuck around.  This album really feels like the album where the fivesome have come into their own, and there’s no stopping the momentum they have picked up.  It’s Demiser the Demiser’s world, and we’re just in the way at this point.

— Ian

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Slave to the Scythe will be available August 23 on Metal Blade Records and Blacklight Media.  For more information on Demiser, visit their Facebook page.