Deviant, The – Ravenous Deathworship
Blastbeats, riffing, harsh vocals – is this what the ‘extreme metal’ scene has become? Bang your head for Satan? At this point, it’s moving past ‘derivative’ straight into self-parody. In fact, Ravenous Deathworship is so blandly typical, it could easily pass as satire. Song titles like “Merciless”, “Genocide”, and “Purity of Hate” are so obvious, it’s hard to believe that The Deviant expects to be taken seriously. So I’ll assume that they don’t. As a comment on all that is wrong with ‘nowadays’ black metal, Ravenous Deathworship achieves its purpose. The overblown, triggered drums rarely vary rhythmically, illustrating the adolescent nature of most black metal drumming. The pristine, big-budget production only amplifies the utter lack of creativity on display, as evidenced by so many recent releases. The burped-up vocals spouting clichés represent the ridiculous lyrics on display in the genre as a whole. To top it off, these guys are from Norway – perfect! Ostensibly the origin of the ‘scene’ (what? I said ‘ostensibly’), Norway has been churning out black metal diarrhea for years now. The genius of this disc is that its very lack of any redeeming features redeems it – as a cautionary piece, reminding us that we don’t have to keep listening to this tripe. It reminds every musician that there IS a lowest common denominator. -Christine Lett
CANDLELIGHT
Worm Gear 