Hells Headbangers Records

The Australian black-death machine known as Denouncement Pyre has been around for a bit, and finally released a proper full length on Hells Headbangers Records last year, after 7 years together as a band. For most of this time, Denouncement Pyre was just the two guys from Hunters Moon. On World Cremation, the vocals and guitars are handled by Decaylust, and drums are done by InVotan who hails from the lovable StarGazer.

After a plethora of demos, EPs, and splits, Denouncement Pyre finally focused their energy and sound and recorded this album. What we’ve got is a rather standard concoction of blackened death, or deathened black metal. There’s a little thrash in there, too. Really, when I say this is standard I mean it is standard in every way. It’s shockingly unremarkable considering some of the material on those EPs, and never really bites as hard as you’re hoping it will. The barbaric quality of past work is toned down, and the album sounds as though it’s got a ravishingly modern production in all ways.

World Cremation is a competent release in that it is Denouncement Pyre simply demonstrating that they understand the “rules” and “methods” of black-death metal, if there are any, and can play it by the books. That’s precisely what they do. They execute simple, evil black-death metal that doesn’t flat out suck, but at no time does it utterly kill, or knock it out of the park with its content. Everything on this album has been heard before in some way, on some other album, and probably done more convincingly. There’s passion here, but it’s passion for a style, not for making a fantastic record, and it sounds like they’re just going through the motions to make a record that can get some cool artwork thrown on it and sold. Each song is similarly simple, the composition style being that of a straightforward thrash band with little dynamic attention overall. The demon-riffs are simple, repetitive patterns of three or four chords, regular tremolo appearances, with an almost nonexistent interest in drifting too far from the tried and true path. While the riffs are lacking in originality, they do exhibit a savage and rough force of pure metal.

Though standard and closing in on even being generic to some degree, nothing about the album is actually bad. Unremarkable, yes. Bad, not at all. Dynamically, it ranges from midpaced blackened death, to faster thrashing bestial bludgeoning, with screaming, rapid, scale-crawling guitar solos used as expected, and competent, yet all too familiar riffs making up literally the entire album. It never succeeds in fully grabbing the listener with an interesting riff, an exciting or unexpected change in pace or feel, a gutwrenching vocal performance, or anything out of the ordinary. Nothing on this album is unexpected or surprising. World Cremation’s level of aggression varies from song to song, but is never fully realized into a formidable force that crushes, kills, or destroys all in its path. Plenty of times it does offer a sizeable dose of hate and pain, darkness and speed, but it almost always feels as though they’re holding something back.

The production is unexpectedly “modern” for this style, but it’s not inhibiting and still allows a full range of bestial tones. The music still comes off as raw and naturally dirty, as it is entirely authentic in its performance and presentation. I’ve emphasized the disappointing and unremarkable aspects of the album, although I should emphasize yet again that it is not a bad album, and is even good, relatively speaking. Compared to the vast quantity of metal being produced today, and even through out history, this is a superior work, harnessing the oldschool aesthetics totally and unapologetically, and giving fans something real, without frills and tricks or novelty qualities. If bands don’t have anything new or interesting to offer, it's nice to see them play this style of metal instead of many of the hundreds of other contrived hybrids and weakling subgenres out there. What it lacks in originality or hell-raising excitement it somewhat makes up for with authenticity and honesty, and still offers up darkened, demonic sounds of evil, true metal. These aren't enough to make it a great album, but it's passable as an average black-death album. 

Some bands are praised for their powerful debut albums or early efforts, and then hated as they become weaker, less interesting, or strive for commercial success. Others are known for weak early  efforts but recognized as they grow more proficient in their craft and are able to deliver greater sounds of victory through later releases. Although Denouncement Pyre's pre-album releases suggest they're already on the downward spiral and this album is the first sign of it, let's hope that this debut will be overshadowed by a sophomore album of superior material and later releases that show a return to their bestial barbarism and/or an improvement in this sound. 

7/10