Review by Carl on September 1, 2024.

That cover really catches the eye, doesn't it? Two war metal bros, fully decked out in their bestial metal gear, hanging around in their grandma's backyard. No joking, I love this! I love this about as much as I love the fact that one of the members uses the alias of Sexual Hammer. Simply brilliant! He should marry the singer of Savage Necromancy, Diabolical Fuckwitch of the Black Flame. Couple of the century, right there!

But what about the music, you ask? Well, that will not need a whole lot of explaining. This sounds exactly as you'd imagine it to sound: blunt death metal infected tremolo guitar riffing going head-to-head with a distorted and cavernous vomitous vocalization, underpinned by a battering percussive assault, executed with all the sensitivity of a psychotic carpenter on meth hammering nails into a plank of wood. Niceties such as melody, subtility, and fine jazzy interludes are nowhere in sight, focusing mostly on diabolic rage and shit-bonker aggression. Slower stuff does surface here and there, even utilizing a smattering of keyboard drone, as showcased in tracks like 'Saurian Sixth Sense' or 'Other Worlds', which works pretty well amidst the aural holocaust going on. The hype sticker on the front mentions bands like Beherit, Bestial Warlust, and Blasphemy (these last ones get referenced quite directly in 'Blasphemous Witchcraft'), and I'd personally add a band like Naked Whipper as well. It's raw, volatile, and aggressive stuff, guaranteed to please the war metal throng, for sure. Granted, it's stuff that's been done well before, but let's face it: I'm not waiting for any progressive war metal with trap rap influences, and neither are other fans of the genre. This stuff is good as it is, and as Mike Love from The Beach Boys apparently once said: don't fuck with the formula. Couldn't agree more.

The production is rough as nails, which fits the style like a glove, but if I'm being honest, it also hampers the whole from really landing that needed fist in the face. Points for the natural percussion and guitar work, but in its totality the unrefined production gives the music more of a softly humming sound, which lessens its bite significantly. You want this type of metal to mimic a high-powered chainsaw running at full force, right?

Despite this yammering on my part, this still remains a war metal album well worth the time. Musically, it delivers the goods in a way agreeable manner, and the album looks great as well. After my disappointment with the Yxxan full-length, I'm glad I now have this Baphorator album to wash away a lot of that bitter aftertaste.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10