As an Australian, I often view the world of Extreme Metal releases by country and marvel at the vibrant scenes that exist in whatever country I view a band from. I’m sure we all do it or some variation on it in some way when we discuss heavy music in its entirety; for example, the Norwegian Black Metal scene harkening back to the early Nineties due to the controversies that arose there, or the Swedish Death Metal and Melodic Death Metal scene, comparisons between the Stockholm sound and Gothenburg sound, for example.
Completing the region of Scandinavia is the country of Denmark, which also is the country from which today’s band and album review hail; the band in question being Defacing God, with their sophomore album ‘Darkness Is My Crown’ being released recently via Apostasy Records. While my analogy of a marked “scene” within Extreme Metal isn’t as pronounced from Denmark, this reviewer certainly is no stranger to the swathe of excellent bands hailing from there, notably Horned Almighty, Panzerchrist, Iniquity and Nortt, amongst many others.
Regardless, it’s fair to say that the Extreme Metal scene is in good hands in Denmark then, with Defacing God bolstering the ranks of quality bands from there; this Symphonic/Melodic Black Metal band grabbing your attention with this well-produced and slick-sounding album, complete with wonderfully raspy and shrieked vocals; courtesy of Sandie the Lilith, a formidable female Extreme Metal vocalist who evokes shades of Marloes Voskuil (formerly of Dutch Extreme Metallers Haliphron) amongst a tight and powerful rhythm section.
The symphonic and melodic passages that underpin tracks like ‘It Comes At Night’ and ‘I See Shadows’ really help the album to have a great sense of variety with tempo and atmosphere, and again, wonderfully punctuated by those gorgeous shrieking and piercing vocals.
The riffing is on point here too, with the pace set wonderfully by the opening track ‘Nocturnal Vestige’ and throughout the midway track, ‘Nefarious Enclave’, and again, special mention has to be made of the production, masterfully executed by the reliable Tue Madsen; who has produced and mixed the likes of Meshuggah, Belphegor, Dark Tranquility, Mnemic and a swathe of others.
The melodic passages and atmosphere, and even the ethereal vocals on tracks like ‘Your Presence Lingers Here’ complement the earlier tracks; almost as a way of evening out some furious riffing earlier on, it just really helps the later tracks to stand out and make the album feel more complete.
While there are other bands within the Extreme Metal space who are adept at linking the likes of Black Metal, Symphonic Black Metal and Melodic Black Metal; and even Blackened Death Metal, I’d like to think that there’s a female fronted band from Denmark adding to the conversation in the best way possible, and that band is Defacing God, and this album is their call to arms.
