Review by Carl on April 18, 2021.

I’m going to have to admit that this review is a difficult one for me. At this point I’m looking at a clash between personal taste and an objective opinion, and it is damn hard to sort out my thoughts about this one.

Musically this is as solid as death metal can get. The production is killer, the vocals exude dread and the riffing is utterly lethal in execution. The songs are well crafted miniatures, and as a whole, this is quite the crushing package. In their slower parts the spirit of Bolt Thrower, Benediction and “Blessed Are The Sick” era Morbid Angel comes to the fore, while in the faster sections the band have me thinking of bands like mid 00’s Behemoth and Belphegor, delivering a mighty thud to the gut with their music.

Then why the conflict, you may wonder. Well, the truth is that I like my death metal high in the velocity stakes, and Baalberith put quite the emphasis on pummeling mid-tempo parts instead, with faster parts only making occasional appearances. As the album furthers, a certain feeling of “get on with it” creeps up on me, even if the band manages to avoid deteriorating into Six Feet Under-like drudgery. You can solely attribute this opinion to my personal taste, because, again, this is not a bad effort in any way. It’s only that for me personally, I wouldn’t have minded some more faster parts.

Despite my opinion about this, this is still a well-crafted piece of death metal, and if you don’t mind at what speed your death metal is played, feel free to add an extra point to the score below, though.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10

Review by Carl on March 31, 2023.

They're called Deathfucker, so my guess is that this is not going to sound like Bon Jovi, Foreigner or U2. And is that a good thing? Fuck yeah, that's a good thing!!!

The lovely lads of Deathfucker deal in a coarse mixture of blackened thrash with old school death metal undertones. Influences come from the rougher thrashers of old such as Necrodeath, Sarcofago, old Bathory and Schizo, crossbred with primordial death metal bands such as Possessed, Incubus (of "Beyond the Unknown" fame), a young Pestilence and "Abominations..." era Morbid Angel. The band combines various elements of these acts into volatile tracks, that are delivered with stupid amounts of exuberant energy. Primarily played at a fast thrashing tempo, with the addition of scorching guitar leads and the occasional blast beat thrown in, these tracks simply fly by. The thrash fueled riffing provides the songs with a restless and tense edge, that is further fleshed out by the battering percussive performance and raw-throated vocals, reminding me somewhat of Cronos (Venom) gone totally berserk. Delivered with oodles of almost psychotic aggression, this is an explosive old school metal storm that will leave little standing after the album is over. The few instances where they do take the foot of the throttle act more as a moment for the listener to take a breath, as well as a set up for the next burst of energy that is inevitably bound to follow it. The separate elements of their music may not be the most original, but the way they combine and deliver it tears most contemporary old school acts a painful new one, simple as that.

The production does not disappoint either. It's clear and powerful, yet it stays natural and is a perfect fit for a band in this style. Bringing out the unhinged power that Deathfucker exudes in droves on this album, it complements the savage music perfectly. It gets the adrenaline pumping right from the get-go, and makes "Firespawn" a near-perfect explosive offering of violence.

This is an awesome package of aggressive metal, high on energy and with balls of steel. It has huge amounts of power and conviction oozing everywhere, and anyone who can sit still listening to this, is either paralyzed or dead.

Rating: 9 out of 10