DIABOLISCHES WERK is a pandemic creation formed in 2020 by members of ENDSTILLE, TAUTHR and DYSANGELIUM. But don't let that fool you into attaching them to some black metal moniker. This is very much a different animal which although holds some influences from their black metal origins, the three have succeeded in creating something of a more brutal trash with some groove and death metal attributes.

Track one, "The Sinkhole", greets us with a rather ominous collage of vocals and sounds, almost monastic in feel. That is before we are launched into a groove metal assault that should liven up any potential mosh pit. A suitable opening to the album before the welcome higher paced pounding of "The Excremist". The variety of vocalists for this project is especially put to good use here. The title track, "Beast", snarls its way into view - and I am almost convinced that's a real dog at the beginning. One for the animal lovers! Despite the album's impressive start, I felt this track a little bit tired and certainly not the pick of the bunch. Thankfully "Murderer" redeems itself with some utterly crowd-friendly lyrics on offer before a suitably neck-wrecking breakdown. "False Flag" continues our groove thrash frenzy.

"The Last Day Of Saints" serves as the penultimate track on this 24 minute first offering. This is certainly one of the better thought-out tracks here. The lyrical concept has very much been conveyed expertly with the guitar interludes separating them in a predictable but refreshing way. The climax of the track is very much vintage thrash metal fare with echoed vocals atop a guitar solo before signing off with just one more short verse to finalise proceedings. "Banner Of Doom" brings the album to a close. You can almost see the wall of death as the track introduces itself maintaining the pace of the album. The track signs off rather suddenly leaving the listener only with some mild guitar feedback and a ticking metronome, a sure sign to the listener that we are done here.

Overall, DIABOLISCHES WERK have not exactly reinvented the wheel here. While it would be easy to write off the album as more of the same just done by someone else, I do believe that the overall effort put on display here represents a competent and enjoyable experience. While the band themselves namedrop ENDSTILL and BELPHEGOR as prime influences, I'm not sure I entirely agree. However the GOATWHORE influence is very evident and if I may be so bold as to drop a little POSSESSED in the mix too. Not much, just a dab will do ya!

All that said, I certainly enjoyed this debut outing. A little more riff variety would be welcome should there be a next time but I certainly think this deserves a place in anyone's collection. I was personally compelled to give it multiple spins!