Desaster - 'The Arts Of Destruction' (metalblade) 3.5/5

Since their formation in 1988 Teutonic death thrashers Desaster have been  hellishly prolific, clocking up 23 releases (if you include demos, split albums and eps) of which this is the latest.

Now this lot claim their biggest influences are the likes of Bathory, Slayer and Venom, and its good to see they are still sticking to their roots here. Cos once you get past the short intro track and hit the first full cut The Art Of Destruction, your slapped in the face with a sound that is dripping Venom-u-like riffage and Cronos style vocals, that grabs you by the throat and demands your attention. And so it continues nearly for the entirety of the album. Tracks like The Splendour of the Idols, Queens of Sodomy, At Hells Horizon and Beyond Your Grace come screaming from the speakers, rape your ears and damn your brain to a glorious black pit of metal oblivion.

Its only on the epic cut Possessed and Defiled do you get any real real respite as the band do go in for a little bit of Bathory style light and shade. All in all its nothing overly mind blowing, and is fairly generic, but what the hell, it's still enjoyable and after 20 odd years of doing this stuff and with a large fan base Desaster know their audience and sound and are still delivering the goods their fans want. Besides its well played and produced and I have heard a lot lot worse.

Worth checking if your into black thrash metal

Fr fans of... Bathory, Venom, Behemoth, Asphyx, Waxface....