Deus Mortem - Kosmocide CD digipak

Shipping on or before Friday September 27th

Deus Mortem is still a new player in the global black metal network, but already a force to be reckoned with as well. "Darknessence" was a first statement, "Emanations of the Black Light" a massive monument of totalitarian black metal and "Demons of Matter and the Shells of the Dead" showed the musical variety of the Polish horde impressively. Now they have forged the master plan and I hope that optically elegant "Kosmocide" does not focus on the proliferating black metal cosmos. But no cause for alarm, Deus Mortem destroy anything else, but not the style they master so well. Mastermind Necrosodom has written the whole music and I wish I had just five percent of his creativity. This album offers almost perfect black metal and it opens the gates for the listener to enter a dimension of total darkness, spiritual brutality and evil.

Many layers must be removed to get to the fiery core of the art of Deus Mortem. The songs reveal a high degree of grim complexity. Conventional song patterns, the good old verse-chorus-verse scheme, has no right of existence in this black galaxy. However, the complex structures are not at the expense of coherence. It takes its time to decode the single songs, but honestly speaking, this process can cast a spell over the listener. One is drawn more and more into an album with raging guitar lines, perfectly integrated breaks, violent drums and an actually ordinary yet expressive voice. The song structures can be compared with those of "De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas" and the level of harshness is comparable as well. Of course, Necrosodom, who is also responsible for the vocals, does not present the pretty sacral approach which Attila celebrates every now and then. Picky people might say that the relatively uniform vocal approach can be seen as a tiny flaw. However, Deus Mortem have excessively drunken from the chalice of the pure black brew and the overall atmosphere of "Kosmocide" is just... well, how can I describe it? Perhaps this way: The album title does not promise too much. I am listening to a terrifying mix of misanthropy and vandalism which has the power to atomize its surrounding. A few number of silent parts is absolutely irrelevant in this context. To give but one example, the seemingly cautious beginning of "Ceremony of Reversion p. 2" rather increases the omnipresent uncomfortable feeling.

Yet it goes without saying that the full-length also houses many sections whose frenzy is impressive. Just check "The Destroyer". It lives up to its name and its most dynamic sequences inflame the pure fire of the sub genre. No doubt, this is an immaculate closer that whets the appetite for more in view of its triumphant lines which remind me of the best moments of bands such as Setherial, while its rather mid-paced parts sound like Grand Magus being real men. I don't hesitate to call this piece a highlight, but its tragic is that it does not stand out. Instead, it's a great pleasure to experience that each and every song achieves a fascinating level of quality. Of course, the simple yet effective chorus "Destroyer, destroyer, set the cosmos on fire, destroyer, destroyer, destroyer" belongs to the most impressive examples of a perfect black metal chorus and it formulates the idea behind the entire output concisely. Moreover, the calm after the storm at the end of the song appears as an unexpected act of clemency, but to me it rather seems like the transition to eternal nothingness after the final explosion. The cosmos is killed, Deus Mortem have reached their aim. Thus, I am all the more happy that they lead us through more than 42 minutes of apocalyptic art. The quartet even shows us "The Soul of the Worlds" and we discover abysmal depths, brutal destruction, ominous drum rolls and atmospheric background vocals. True black metal liaises with perfection and we are witness to this great moment.

The rumbling production lacks a bit clarity. No doubt, nobody needs an album of the here presented style that tries to win with a polished, sterile high-gloss-sound. Terratur Possessions yes, Nuclear Blast no. Nevertheless, the mix sounds minimally blurred, but who cares as long as this remains the only minor flaw. Deus Mortem have written an album that surpasses its predecessor with great ease and this was anything but a matter of course. "Sinister Lava" with its mix of meditative and unleashed elements will convince you, if you don't believe me - and any other song can do the same. It is therefore all the more idiotic that the so-called "Antifa" forced club owners in Berlin and Munich to cancel the concerts of Deus Mortem (and Mgla). You self-proclaimed censors want to fight against fascism in Germany? You're a little bit too late and only those resistance fighters who really had to fear for their lives - and who lost it in many cases - deserve our respect. Anyway, the negative energy of the modern Antifa is nothing against the gargantuan destructiveness which is shown on "Kosmocide".