This album from the Texan band Hod doesn’t take much working out. It’s bludgeoning, brutal Death/Black metal. Each track has an individual quality but the core theme is the same – death and destruction.
The first track “Demoralizer” is untypical in musical style of the rest. It’s more like roaring old-school thrash. The overriding image is of motor bikes and cars running at speed on a motorway. The mood changes with “God of War and Darkness”, which has a Black Metal undercurrent. This one is more along the lines of atmospheric Black Doom. The album starts to settle in as “Harbinger of Death” is just that, a piece of relentless and brutal Death Metal. “Nine Days” is more ponderous before stepping up the pace. It’s still nasty. The growls make sure of that. “Ritual of Vengeance” is more complex and reminded me of Behemoth with its discordant, technical riff. This one is less accessible than the others. The end of the track has the chaotic air of Frank Zappa. Blasting beats dominate “Serpent of the Nightmare Empire”, which has the framework of a Deicide track. It’s all summed up on “Victims” – drums crash, the guitars impose their death-like refrains, while the vocalist growls and rants. And that’s it.
I don’t know how many times I heard “You die” being growled into the mic or something similar but this is evidently the theme of the album. It’s “rip your throat out” sort of stuff but in spite of the band’s claim to have taken metal to new manly heights, “Serpent” for me was variations of an existing theme, and was neither particularly original or inspiring.
http://www.myspace.com/hodtheband
http://www.ibexmoonrecords.com
