Degial – Predator Reign (Sepulchral Voice Records. 2017).
After their last offering, Savage Mutiny, Degial had high expectations to live up to in my eyes… And they’ve only gone and exceeded those. The introductory soundclip sets the mood for the album perfectly, with the bestial sounds of some potentially porcine creature shrieking in rage and pain before the savage opening riff of the title song Predator Reign comes in. There are some incredibly catchy riffs that will get you headbanging with glee, such as on Thousand Spears Impale or Crown of Fire or Annihilation Banner. As with their last offering, the sound has evolved from the pure Morbid Angel worship on Death’s Striking Wings to include somewhat more Black Metal elements and with hints of Angelcorpse in the mix, all coming together to deliver a sadistic thrashing of Satanic Death Metal that leaves the listener savaged yet hungry for more. At just over 38 minutes long with 10 songs, whilst in general the songs feel relatively short (likely due to the fact that time and space seem to melt away due to the brilliance of the album) it all sounds to be perfectly crafted so that there is no sense in which any individual song appears to end abruptly. The album flows perfectly, feeling like a hymn to Chaos and Death, with a rotten atmosphere evocative of demonic beings arising from the grave prepared for ravaging the living. Whilst generally most songs are performed closer to breakneck speed, there are some songs that revel in the slower, somewhat more mid-paced sections that ooze with morbid malevolence, all helping to accentuate the animalistic assault of the overall album, such as on Devil Spawn. The final song, Clangor of Subjugation, ends the album on a high with a killer second slower half featuring a tremolo picked riff on top of a rumbling bass line and a mid-paced riff that evokes a sense of the triumph of the forces of Death and the glorious tyranny thereafter, thus concluding the album perfectly. A memorable, addictive slab of Metal of Death, this is an album that is well worth getting and which sets up high expectations for the next album.
8.5/10.
SADISTIC SCREAMS 