The fascination for technical death metal has become utterly tiresome, especially with the proliferation of bands who have taken the meaning of such to be to play as fast and as downtuned as possible whilst a guitarist performs some freestyle noodling over the top. It is one of the main reasons that I have found myself distanced from the death scene for quite a few years now. I’m clearly not the only one who feels this way as there are an increasing number of bands surfacing who are championing the cause for death metal as it used to be, killing in the old way. Black Jesus are just such a band, with their press release describing them as “100% brain damaged scrap metal with an old school flavour”. Put your maths books away, discard any notions of originality and allow Black Jesus to preach the gospel of violence as it was originally written.
With absolutely no pretence of finesse, Black Jesus come out firing on all cylinders with a rough and ready approach that reminds me of early Benediction. The title track has that kind of aggression and momentum that leads to pits of shirtless bodies stomping around the place looking for like-minded types to fuckshitup with. The songs are short and punchy with little time to let them settle or stagnate before we are swiftly moving on, and despite having 12 tracks the album clocks in at just a fraction over a half an hour long. They manage to pack so much into that time that there is no danger of feeling short changed. Adrian Naudi’s vocals carry plenty of weight and have a slight punk edge to the bad intentioned ranting. The guitar work is simplistic but very effective, and despite being short on outright riffery the tracks are memorable, with the likes of ‘Scorch The Sky’, ‘We’re All Zombies Now’ and ‘Reek of Crucifixion’ all having significant earworm value.
With bands like this there is a slightly haphazard and chaotic manner about the music which adds to the energy as it gives it much more of that ‘live’ feel which a lot of modern bands overlook in favour of overproducing all the life and soul out of their work. You definitely get the impression when listening to this album that the only differences between this and a live performance is the inevitable blood and bruising. The only negative thing that really stood out to me was the final track ‘A Crimson Vow’, which in itself is not bad, but as a slower and more deliberately delivered track it really leaves you hanging expectantly as the album finishes. Given that the vast majority of the album is delivered at a breakneck pace, this track would have served much better as a lead in to a different selection with the album then finishing on a high. Minor gripes aside though, ‘Everything Black, Everything Dead’ is a really enjoyable cut of old fashioned no frills death metal. Simple, but devastatingly effective.
(8/10 Lee Kimber)
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