We are living in a kind of big screen kaiju renaissance right now, as Godzilla (2014), Shin Godzilla (2016), King Kong: Skull Island (2017) and the forthcoming Rampage (2018) all show.
So, big monsters make for big box office, but do they make for great death metal? Seattle Gojira-fanciers Oxygen Destroyer say they do, and their new album "Bestial Manifestations of Malevolence and Death" makes the case very, very forcefully.
The album is littered with samples from various big beast movies (and some equally nasty radio signals from Saturn).
But the sound is more akin to blackened thrash/death, with just a dash of Order From Chaos thrown in for good measure.
The tracks are short, direct to the point and focused. It shreds at points, but its real trick lies in capturing the raw nastiness and savagery at the heart of every kaiju caper.
Yes, Godzilla, Gamera and the rest have all become noble savage superheroes (never mind that boring sod Ultraman).
Yet the brutality of the Oxygen Destroyer sound reminds us that we’re still dealing with vast, terrifying metaphors of destruction, that live, breathe and vomit atomic fire.
That said, some of the songs are too short. Extreme metal sometimes needs more time to take root, unfold and shred. (Which is one of the main differences between that genre and punk.) Sometimes songs start, peak and end just at the point you’re getting into them.
On the other hand, how can we argue with the short but grand Death To The False King, a pointedly pissed off ditty aimed at the notorious 1998 ‘Godzilla In Name Only’ shit-fest?
In summary, this is good, clean radioactive fun.
SHEEPSCORE: SKREEEEEEEEEONK! (4/5)
Available now on the official Oxygen Destroyer Bandcamp page.
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