Slaughter Lord/Morbid Angel (AUS/USA)- Taste Of Blood/Invocation 7" EP
(Dolores Marie Records 1987/-)
"Blacktown deaththrashers" was such a league of their own. The disease that was "The Great Australian black/death metal" really did emanate from the very stem of the Slaughter Lord associates, from a relatively small suburb of Sydney, radiating outwards across the desolate wastelands as elsewhere the other metallers were pretty lame, like virgin metal or whatnot. I do believe that Australia in its past certainly boasted a killer extreme metal scene to be reckoned with based on what Slaughter Lord could do for me, only to be slightly disappointed when I finally travelled to Sydney and met the local metalheads there. Of course it was another story altogether (and thankgoodness I didn't see the guys from Slaughter Lord). Anyway, we're travelling back to '87, when discovering new metal music was as intriguing as a weekend rummaging through the elephant's anatomy. Slaughter Lord has always lived as an addiction for my eardrums right down to my depraved heart and soul. If it is caffeine or nicotine, let it be. I believe that everything angry and rotten in the elements of Aussie metal could be traced not just to the common criminal ancestry, but to the foundation set by these really wicked lads. Not forgetting my other favourite band Morbid Angel (and also everybody's favourite!), here in my hands is that infamous split of pure raging death metal. But just out to disappoint you guys a little, this split is an unbalanced release that did little justice for Morbid Angel. You see, this release features a rather bad representation of Morbid Angel with a low sound fidelity recording of "Invocation" and a very questionable live track called "Funerals" which is bad, and can never be traced to any part of the early Morbid Angel's discography. The people behind the label probably mistakingly took a live track from Hobbs' Angel Of Death (pun very much intended). On the other hand, Slaughter Lord has that unreal "battles in the north" treatment with a sped up recording that even rips at a frightening speed at 33 rpm. I know and will profess that Slaughter Lord rages without any need of that technological mischiefs, but at that speed, it's simply a blackhole through hell. Now, why do I care so much about Slaughter Lord you might ask? I'd attest that the band is BIG on attitude, from the way the band is exhorting dangerous violence and wickedness. There is an immensely ferocious edge to their utterly blackened speed death thrash if the summation of my listening proves me correct. The vocalist hisses vehemence in spittle, like a rebel and outcast cursing vengeance like as if the whole world owes him one thousand deaths. "Die By Power" echoes commandingly at an unexpected exclamation to the outrage, and the genius guitars whip grooves from the underworld of outlaws, catchier than early Kreator strung in Rambo. "Taste Of Blood" is frenetic, thirsty and bestial, severing my sanity chord to balloon into the fiery firmaments of bloody crimson, pitched at ultra-violence. The drums are sinisterly hellpaced, and at such urgency the guitaring seemingly deconstruct itself from the thrash set, warping into a blackened frenzy. Slaughter Lord is capable of weaving black magic at the listener the way Slayer curses its devotee, inducing him to a bout of anger and rage, which I can explain too well when I was younger. I'd however, still recommend all interested parties to check out their "Thrash Till Death" release on both LP and CD format, which has become regulars on my players and it has excellent introductory materials to the evil cult of Slaughter Lord. On the split release here, this one I'm reviewing is probably the Real McCoy amongst the many similar bootlegs out there and it is limited to 666 exemplaries on clear blue vinyl. I know maniacs will surely lap this one up based on that silly last sentence.