ALBUM REVIEW: Antichrist Above – Putrid
Peruvian metallers PUTRID have proven to be incapable of fitting into traditional genre conventions. Playing black metal with serious death and thrash elements, their newest release – Antichrist Above – is easily one of the darkest and yet most well constructed extreme metal records that a smaller band has released in a while. Whilst the title may lean into the traditional controversy of black metal and suggests a typical black metal album, the Peruvian quintet inject all of the best elements from thrash and death metal into it – including soaring guitar solos, and more audible vocals; both things that are rarely found in traditional blackened metal.
Don’t be fooled that those other elements might have toned PUTRID down however; Antichrist Above is a brutal album and makes for an intense listening experience – definitely not one for a chilled out evening. Album opener Warfare In Golgotha pulls no punches and sets the tone for the rest of the album, with blast-beats galore and vocalist/guitarist Evil Avatar’s opening scream being very adept at informing the listener of what sort of experience they’re in for.
The lyrics are a traditional black metal anti-Christian fare, and as suggested by the title is about the rise of the Antichrist, who will “Command the obscures hordes from Satanas, Kill all the signal of pure and light.” It is interesting how these traditional first-wave of Norwegian black metal motifs made it to South America, but these crazy Satanists manage to sound just like an updated version of that early wave of black metal. Think MAYHEM’s De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas but with 21st century production and vocals that lean into inspiration from death metal, rather than the slightly higher pitched screams favoured by more traditional black metal.
Of course despite their extreme metal nature, PUTRID have obviously also been inspired by more mainstream metal bands – the influence of SLAYER especially on this record is clear from their enigmatic front-man and guitarist’s first looping solo, which shares a lot of similarities with earlier SLAYER material – the interplay between the guitar and the interestingly titled Drum Mayor of War’s whacking of the skins do clearly take inspiration from the interplay between Kerry King and Dave Lombardo, especially on songs like Angel of Death – which is arguably the most similar to PUTRID‘s full-length.
Of course, while the lyrics are made up of traditional black metal themes, this also does unfortunately make them seem quite cliché and overused – anti-Christian sentiment and church burning might have made a band controversial in the 90s, but nowadays there is more interesting extreme metal being produced, without having to rely on invoking imagery and controversies from the past, and when you have a band like DEAFHEAVEN who are creating beautiful, introspective black metal and putting a new twist on the genre, then it makes this kind of traditional religious symbolism feel a bit outdated and unoriginal. It is a shame, because whilst the instrumentals are putting a new spin on black metal, the lyricism is just missing that originality, and feels like they’re being controversial just for the sake of it.
Antichrist Above is not the best black metal album to ever see the light of day, but it avoids the self-indulgence that some of PUTRID‘s contemporaries seem so fond of. It’s short, sweet and has some fantastic instrumentals on it that will absolutely melt faces. It’s just a shame that PUTRID didn’t take more risks with the lyrical content like they did with their music. Melding thrash and death with black metal does create something that stands apart, and this is well worth checking out for any fans of extreme metal – just beware of the slightly cringe-inducing lyrics.
Rating: 6/10
Antichrist Above is out now via Godz Ov War Productions.
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