Deivos - Casus Belli (2019)

Long one of the more dependable second tier acts on the Polish death metal circuit, Deivos have now been in existence for over 20 years with no end in sight. Now, when I refer to them as 'second tier', I refer only to popularity, because if I'm being honest these guys are every bit an equal to many of the better known, veteran bands from the States or elsewhere, and Casus Belli is nothing nearing a letdown if you've been following them since their more transitional works like 2010's Gospel of Maggots. Like a number of bands on their scene, Deivos exist in a happy medium between the more brutal and technical death metal acts and those who follow the songwriting aesthetics of the late 80s and early 90s, although they don't quite subscribe to the more creepy, old school tremolo picking vibes or Swedish guitar tones and d-beat rhythms so eminent in this domain.

Basically it's as if they were a parallel evolution to what the New York death metal crews like an Immolation or Suffocation were doing in the earlier 90s, but extremely well balanced in terms of composition and dynamics. Loads of bludgeoning palm muted rhythms fired off at a number of clips both moderate and hyperspeed, but the band is never afraid to slow down for a few dreary, doomed passages where the chords are given more space to breathe. The footwork on the drums is intense, a lot of double kick and blast beats effortlessly wrought to carry along the frenzied guitars, and the guy uses his full kit, lots of skilled fills and higher pitched percussion to match the thunder. They splatter quality little lead guitars all over the place that help maintain a level of variation, balance and atmosphere that might be lost if they were simply charging forward in their battering rhythms to fill out every second of space on the disc. While the rhythms aren't extremely technical, they're just busy enough and non-generic enough that they keep your attention while they are clobbering away, and then the band will shift into some morbid chords that ramp up the evil.

The vocals are pretty straightforward as they always have been, syncopated gutturals that match in very well with the drumming and chugging, but still pretty sincere and gruesome if you actually listen to them closely. What surprised me were a few groovy little riffs (as in "Victims") which reminded me of vintage efforts from their countrymen Decapitated, you know, from back when that band was really good and had something inspiring going. In every vortex of blasting and pummeling across this entire album there is usually one or two sections waiting in the depths that will ramp up the catchy and thus make all the aggression surrounding them more impressive on the whole. Casus Belli is certainly one of the stronger efforts they've put out alongside Gospel of Maggots and Demiurge of the Void, and further cements the band's legacy of consistency...outside of the giants like Vader and Behemoth, you'll only find a few on the Polish scene that could throw down with  Deivos on an album to album basis. So if you're into Lost Soul, Calm Hatchery, or Decapitated and have somehow missed out, make the correction!

Verdict: Win [8/10]

https://deivos.bandcamp.com/

Deivos - Demiurge of the Void (2011)

Deivos might not have made new in-roads with their latest choice of cover art, a stretched and diabolic facade all too close in tone to the prior two albums, but Demiurge of the Void is another practiced exercise in well-balanced brutality and technicality which should see their star continue to rise among the fields of modern death metal. The songs here come with such a concrete barrage of hostility that they can often feel overwhelming at first, but upon closer scrutiny they've still got quite a lot going on under the hood, and engine of progression and variation that operates with exacting devastation. Decidedly more brutal than their countrymen Vader, Behemoth and Lost Soul, this effort shows all signs that it will appeal to the follower of the heavily structured, acrobatic USDM scene currently exploding from the west coast.

Deivos hammers along at about a mile a millisecond here, and early tracks "No Gods Before Me" and "Code of a Dead Deity" seem about as subtle as a truckload of steel girders being dumped upon the listener's head, but there is intricacy to be found in their silky, psychotic leads and the grooving dynamics that materialize once the opening artillery pauses for reloading. I do feel that as the album progresses, the songs become slightly stronger, with a clinical substrate of neurotic riffing inherent in "Born to Loathe", "And the Word Became Flesh" and the impressive, mechanical rigor of finale "Panacea", but this largely relates to the shift in opening strategies and superior note selection rather than any inconsistencies. Of the eight tracks, there are none exempt from the Poles' brutal athletics and the pure bludgeoning of 'Angelfuck's' delivery, save for where they incorporate brief seconds of ambient or industrial effects (like the closeof "And the Word Became Flesh").

On the whole, I did not find Demiurge of the Void quite as potent as Gospel of Maggots, simply because there were less riffs worming their way into my memory. The styles between the two are clearly comparable, though this album ultimately seems simultaneously faster and less schizoid. Still, the production is pretty clear, callous and calculated like much of the modern tech death internationally, and the performances are spine wrenching. Deivos might not seem the natural frontrunner of the Polish underground, but along with peers like Nomad and Calm Hatchery they certainly represent a solid second string for the superstars of that scene, and it's a bit irritating that something like Decapitated's latest, an exercise in futility and mediocrity, will get any attention at all while Demiurge of the Void languishes in obscurity. This is the REAL Polish death metal, people. It might not singe itself upon my brow eternally like the new Vader, but the effort here is inarguable, and brutal death knights the world wide should be penning Deivos in to their schedules of attention.

Verdict: Win [7.75/10]

http://www.deivos.pl/

Deivos - Gospel of Maggots (2010)

By now I've formed such a high set of standards for Polish death metal that when a band like Deivos comes along like this and just trounces my ass from floor to ceiling, out the door and down the steps of my home, under the next truck or construction vehicle to roll down my street, I can't really say I'm all that surprised... Unique Leader, to whom such ferocious acts are also no surprise, has scored themselves another winner with the band's second effort, Gospel of Maggots, one of the tightest and most talented death metal onslaughts I've heard yet in the year of 2010. But though the band's writing reads like a 'how to' guide for brutal, dynamic music, the band should get even further props for their enhanced awareness to the subtleties of percussion and a solid knack for knowing how NOT to bore you with the writing.

Try and imagine a realm between Polish mainstays like Vader, Behemoth, Decapitated and Lost Soul, and the intense Californian assault of a band like Severed Savior and/or Sepsism, and you can get a general consensus for how Deivos explores their insanity. Surely, you've got the obvious leanings towards Morbid Angel, Cryptopsy, Suffocation, Deicide, Cannibal Corpse, and the like, but these are pretty much the given at this point for any young act to enter the modern sphere. However, Deivos are not exactly young, having been around in other Polish acts like Abusiveness, Squash Bowels, and Engraved (several of them have some solid black metal roots). And it would be hard to imagine a band putting out an album like this without having done quite some time in individual musical development.

Gospel of Maggots is like a cacophony of carefully orchestrated hammers that known exactly when to time their descent in various patterns and combinations upon every joint in your body. Tracks like "Psychopathological Compulsion" and the spry "Wretched Idolatry" are acrobatic enough to win Olympic events, but the band can also open a tune with some good old school ambient horror, as with the sick fucking title track. I had mentioned the percussion earlier, and it does strike me as somewhat unique in the band's field, with an increased use of cowbell or woodblock-like sounds that you don't often make out among the blasting and double bass. This guy Krzysztof Saran is a beast, and you are more than likely going to be hearing more about him, because he's one of the few metal drummers I can think of that perform in such an intriguing manner that I could listen to the drum track alone and still enjoy myself. But I don't mean to steal any thunder from the bass or guitars, as everything here is performed with intense rigor, other worthy tracks including the mathematical force of "Trial of Bloodletting" or "Failed Mutation", and the dizzying energy of "Kept in the Dark".

These guys can easily lock horns with the likes of Lost Soul or Decapitated, so if you fancy Polish or tech death metal in general then there is little reason to hesitate in checking them out. Compared to their earlier album Emanation from Below in 2006, this seems like an education in increased violence and fortitude. I found most of the songs here more forcefully impressive than memorable, so I won't give it the highest honors, but I seriously have no doubt that the intended audience will have a 'blast'. The album is so frenetic and heavy that I found most of my muscle groups ached after listening to it, and I could clearly see spirals through my double vision, like having a mule kick me square on the bridge above my nose.

Highlights: Wretched Idolatry, Trial of Bloodletting, Failed Mutation, Kept in the Dark

Verdict: Win [8.5/10]

http://www.deivos.metal.pl/