I remember when I first got into extreme metal and starting jamming out the tunes of Hellhammer’s ‘Apocalyptic Raids’ somewhere at the end of the 90’s, my two younger brothers were playing video games. One of which in particular was rather popular with those two, Dungeon Keeper. It was a game I could in no way relate to, but they loved it. I remember the sounds, voices and so on well, but I just stuck to Hellhammer then and to this very day.
Fast forward about some 25 years and then there is this Osnabrück, Germany based band that named themselves Dungeon Keeper and remarkably enough sounds more than a little bit like Hellhammer. I do not know whether these guys have taken their name from that video game, but I am sure as Hell that they’ve taken their musical inspirations from the good old ‘Hammer. In just under 18 minutes they crank out some crunchy Hellhammer riffs, some simple but effective drums and those deliciously humming bass guitar. The only difference are the vocals, though it surely resembles Hellhammer just as well, but it sounds a little more shrieky and I particularly love the short occasional high pitched screams. Another vocal difference is the some more “clean” sort of drunken singing that is pretty much alike Fenriz in his best Isengard period. Apart from that rocking Isengard comparison it is all about those great rocking Hellhammer riffs which are simply too authentic to ignore: I challenge you not to get a kick out of these…
