The Deviant
Ravenous Deathworship
7.5
Does Norway need yet another black metal band? With the hyper saturation of the black metal scene and the growing commercialization and stagnation of the scene as a whole, is the answer another band? I’ll let you make the call, but with past and current members of 122 Stab Wounds, Gehenna, Tsjuder, and Forlorn it’s no mystery to hear such musical experience and talent coming from a new band.
The Deviant play a living nightmare of vitriolic black metal blended with stomping death metal brutality. Hell, they even take the time for the occasional thrash groove before descending back into their own concoction of caustic misanthropy. Though the musical tonality has an undeniably strong black metal leaning, the song structure, much of the delivery, and many aspects of their style are heavily grounded in strong death metal overtones. The music is somewhat of a retrograde version of how Behemoth progressed their style of death metal from leaning heavily on black metal tendencies in order to form a relatively innovative stylistic difference from the bands around them. The Deviant walk a similar, but different path of playing standout extreme metal with noticeable variations of style.
Dolgar’s sardonic vocals are delivered as more of a croak than any sort of wrathful rasp or snarl, but the recording of his vocals left something to be desired as they come out thin and distant. Blod’s work behind the kit offers no quarter, driving the album on with frightening fervor, his thundering double bass work, frequent fills, and intelligent snare work shows he still has enough clout to add variety and change to his style so the album doesn’t become a boring 38 minute blast fest. E.N. Death and Violator's guitar work weaves its way from crushing rhythm and sinister melody to grandiose solos with a rumbling, wicked death metal tonality
Ravenous Deathworship is a living nightmare enveloped in the same sort of malevolent, ominously intense aura as Belphegor; the evil leaps out of the speakers. “Merciless” and "Genocide" kick off the album with black metal malevolence and death metal violence, not too dissimilar to the blasphemous ambiance of Dark Funeral. “Serpent” starts off a bit too familiar for my taste, but The Deviant comfortably navigate familiar waters moving quickly to a composition of epic proportions similar to Immortal, playing with such conviction that the clichéd opening gambit is hardly noticeable. “Intimate Skinning”, while somewhat simple, picks up where its predecessor left off trudging through crunching away without abandon. “Venom of Mankind” passes by somewhat boring, a passive four minutes that doesn’t stand up to par with the rest of the album. “Purity of Hate” is a brilliant Belphegor style juxtaposition of black and death metal; equal parts epic and brutal “Sadosadistic” rains down with unparalleled fury starting off with a thick mid paced panache before slamming headfirst into strong Satyricon like territory. “Perfect State of Death” gives one last burst of fury before “Resurrection of Hate” closes up the album with churning, doom laden death metal with just the right touches of black metal traditionalism
Granted The Deviant oftentimes boasts not too subtle similarities to bands like Satyricon, Immortal, and Dark Funeral, the songs are expertly crafted black metal mayhem with an interesting twist on the basic formula. Every now and then you get the vibe that they’re shooting for something that’s already been done before, but the band offers enough variety and skill to make Ravenous Deathworship a force unto itself.
