Those long-time blackened thrashers in need of a new injection of life, fear not! South Carolina's DEMISER has dished up a hearty plate of impious aural assault! Fans of contemporary blackened thrash in the vein of HELLRIPPER will simply love this record. I confess I had difficulty believing that this release is DEMISER'S debut, as it bears all the marks and trappings of a band well-established and comfortable in their craft. Even if it were nothing else at all - which is most certainly is not! - it is a great thrash record. Those of a more fuddy-duddy constitution who may lament that the glory days of thrash are long passed, this is evidence enough that thrash is very much alive and thriving.

The daemonical is evident from the very start, creepy and hellish sound effects preceding the opening track "Through the Gate Eternal", which hits the listener's ear like a truck! Double-bass drums, utterly relentless guitars, and raspy black metal-style vocals (and not to mention a couple of very tasty solos) tell the listener exactly what they can expect from this album - and it's a thing of real beauty! "Offering" tops a tantalising and chugging intro with hypersonic riffage that would make EVILE jealous! A Tom Araya pedigree high-pitch scream completes the checklist of thrash greatness.

"Deathstrike" feels like how you would imagine MOTÖRHEAD went more down the route that VENOM took - the intro feels very "Overkill" and it flows into a solid track. The epic intro to "Raw Fucking Vomit" sounds like something you'd expect to find on a DETHKLOK album. Blast-beats and tremolo guitars present one of the tastier raw black metal moments on the album. "Song of Byleth" is a haunting beautiful acoustic track leading directly into "Unholy Sacrifices", which itself is another thrash stomper. As in all places on the album, Demiser's raw yet comprehensible raspy growls slot nicely into the patchwork that has been so delicately woven together - but really a patchwork that you could legitimately kill a man with, or at least summon a demon or two!

"Hook and Torment" delivers another hook of an intro before leading the listener into a compulsively catchy chorus, featuring some wonderful left-right guitar harmonies and blackened tremolo blasts - a real high point. Who said this kind of music couldn't be impiously irreligious and huge fun?! It's on this track where we hear clearly the bubbly throaty bass a-la Alex Webster. If anything, it's a shame it's a shame we don't hear more of it. To top everything off there's a guitar solo that finishes with a more than respectful not to that in MEGADETH'S "Tornado of Souls". I do enjoy it when references like this are done tastefully!

"Demiser the Demiser" is a nostalgia-trip to the glory days of thrash. There's a little dash of everything here: EXODUS, SLAYER, OVERKILL, ANTHRAX - take your pick! It's really a love letter to the genre and shows you just how much of it there really is and how far it's progressed over the years. Album closer "Warfuck Demonlust" is probably the most overtly black metal track here (and not just with the title!) The overall mood and style on display really plays with the conventions of the genre before then diving into an almost hardcore-sounding riff midway through which fades the track out at the finish. Usually I'm notoriously grumpy with fade-out tracks but somehow it feels appropriate here. It would seem a bit jarring to end this expertly crafted aural assault with a sudden slam on the breaks!

Not only is this a triumph of a first record, it would still be a triumph were it a second or third or fourth record! As compulsively head-banging as the very best in the thrash tradition, this is a record that is every bit as good the second, third or fourth time listening as it was the very first. For a band formed only in 2018 this is quite simply extraordinary. This is most certainly a band to watch!