Hammer Of The Heretics
A lot of bands call themselves evil. They tout their black metal influences or their dark and gloomy atmosphere, claiming that this adds to their malignant sound, claiming that it adds to their vile and vicious image. While yes, these influences add a certain level of nefariousness to the sound or a layer of intensity, no band truly grasps what it means to have an evil sound; a sound that leaves a pit in your stomach and a mark in your mind. It's a tough label to envelope yourself in as a band, and that's where Autokrator come in.
This French death metal band is one of the few bands that, upon first listen, sound truly evil, and their latest album Hammer Of The Heretics is no exception. From cover to cover, Hammer Of The Heretics is a relentless assault on your ears, with immense riffing coupled with inhuman vocals and stellar composition.The guitars on this album are beastly, coated in a thick layer of distortion that shakes you to your core, with a solid mixture of tremolo picking and classic death metal riffs being the main composition in this area of the album. The sheer intensity brought on by the rhythm guitar is only added to with the occasional soloing and complex lead guitar parts, bringing an atmosphere of epic proportions. No other death metal band can bring the same sound that Autokrator has with the guitar in this album.
The drums are nothing to scoff at either, with a booming bass drum being the core that the rest of the drums build upon. The hats and crash cymbals resonate so well behind the wall of guitar, bringing an upper register that makes the entire album shine. Not only that, but the powerful production on the instrumentals as a whole create a daunting atmosphere unlike any other death metal band. The bass in this album is what really makes it though, with a heavily distorted bass line mixed high in the final product lunging out at you and making your heart beat with the tempo of the album. It's just such a massive sound that creates a soundscape that's just as massive.
The vocals are, again, inhuman. The vocalist of Autokrator outdid himself with his album, as prior releases had more garbled and incomprehensible vocal lines compared to the cleaner and more enunciated vocal lines present in Hammer Of The Heretics. That being said, the vocals are still nasty in their delivery, with a very guttural sound taking the center stage. When there isn't much variation in the vocals of an album, the vocalist has to make up for it by making what they do create is stellar, and that is the case here. The lows that the front man has are a mixture between a normal death metal growl and a visceral guttural, blending the two into a punchy and vicious vocal assault. As a whole, this album is a very forward and intense experience that is, quite honestly, one of the better albums I've ever listened to.
Final Score: 85/100
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