Killengod - Into the Ancient Moon (1998)

Killengod's obscure sophomore album comes across quite different up front. Gone are the weird, surreal alien things from the debut's cover, and this in fact looks as if it would be more of a black metal album, or at least it would if the logo weren't the same. Actually, when I was listening to the synth intro "Ode to an Ancient Moon", I was fully expecting them to erupt with blasting, snarls and tremolo picked melodies. After all, the first record was a bit trendy with what extreme metal was happening in 1995, so why not the 1998 album too? But this turns out not to be the case, because where the aesthetics and production of Into the Ancient Moon might differ from the debut, it's still very much brutal death metal with a Floridian foundation, only I feel a bit more of that New York intensity creeping into it here.

You still get the Deicide-like split vocals, alternating between the guttural and snarl, and they do it with a lot of character, and occasionally in tandem. The riffs, though, are far more ambitious, dabbling in more technical, varied patterns which are a smattering of thrash and brutal death, and shifting around enough with the drums that it occasionally sounds a little cluttered, with walls of riffs crashing into each other. There is a lot more technique, little pinches and melodies abound, and they also use a little more synth which recalls some of the early Nocturnus. The instruments all sounds fairly good for something at this budget, but the guitars are a bit sharper and more cutting than on the first album. There are also a few spurts of more melodic, simple riffing almost like a crude melodeath, as in the bridge of "Masquerade the Masters", but it's not enough to distract from the more abusive, intense battery they usually engage with.

Tunes like "Lord of Whores" should still sate fans of the first two Deicide records, or maybe None So Vile, and I found there were a fun, bouncy, primal grooves, although in terms of chord or note selection, this album doesn't really stand out so much. But it's competent, punishing Down Under death metal that will probably surprise those hunting deep through the underground for some competence, and their willingness to make the small aesthetic changes shows that they were a group keen on evolution and progression. It simply never progressed beyond this point...

Verdict: Indifference [6.75/10]

Killengod - Transcendual Consciousness (1995)

With all the love foisted upon obscure death metal of the 80s and 90s, down to the demo level, it's hard to believe that this Australian band, Killengod, goes unnoticed. Sure, the cover art is hideous, the name of the band is a bit dumb, but the production and songs on this 1995 debut, Transcendual Consciousness (whatever that means) are tight enough that I can imagine those into a more semi-brutal acts of that time period like Malevolent Creation or Deicide would get a kick out of this. Come to think of it, the name actually seems to me like a lazy alternative to Deicide, and the band has a lot of stylistic comparisons with Benton and company. I'll even go further to say that the production job on this CD is even better than half of what Scott Burns was putting out, so there it is.

This is equal parts fast brutality and groove-based death metal which is heavily rooted in the Florida style, with perhaps a sliver of sensibility towards bands like Biohazard when they go into a breakdown, though this wasn't a foreign technique to death metal itself either. The riffs chug along in engaging if forgettable patterns, and they aren't afraid to throw some weirdness over the top like flange ("Soul Mutilation"). They use a dual vocal, the most apt comparison to Deicide, with the snarl and guttural going off in constant unison, and it sounds pretty nasty and silly at the same time, but I doubt the latter was the intent. The drums are damn solid, with steady double kick, fun fills and some blasting, though never so much that it becomes monotonous, and they also seem to stick with the guttural in those parts and it sounds fairly awesome. Like their Floridian forebears Deicide and Cannibal Corpse, there is definitely also a bit of a thrash influence here which directly translates into some of the riffing, but much of it meat-fisted and brutal death metal, but lacking the overt complexity some of the bands were starting to branch into.

The lead aren't great, but they add a nice dimension of messiness over the thrust of the low end, and the bass is warbling all over the place. The band actually did their best to vary this one up, they'll have a clean acoustic part here or some rhythmic shifts that sound like nothing else on the album as in "Experimental Evidence", which sounds more like a brute thrash tune via Sacred Reich or Demolition Hammer. The title track also steps off into the Twilight Zone with a weird mix of groove, thick bass lines, chugging build-ups and a cool, weird ambient intro which sounds like water running, bells being rung and some warped samples of alien pleasure. Transcendual Consciousness deserves far more credit than I'd give it just by first impressions, for such an unknown record it sounds quite competent, and the songs are frenetic and fun, especially for a time when the chugging and grooves were still in vogue. If you enjoy that period of death metal when Suffocation, Cryptopsy and the aforementioned Florida acts were fast becoming gods, you could do much worse than check this one out if you can find it.

Verdict: Win [7/10]