Servant – Death Devil Magick
Band: Servant
Title: Death Devil Magick
Label: AOP Records
Release date: September 20th, 2024
Country: Germany
Format reviewed: High-quality digital recording
Death Devil Magick by Servant meets the expectations raised by the band name and album title. From the austere acoustic intro to the sampled readings of what sounds like a spell the album feels like a satanic ritual. The production is challenging in just the right way. When the distorted guitars come, they are harsh and somewhat painful. There is a sharpness to the sound, rough edges left unpolished, yet it is easy to follow the riffs and melodies by each guitar as they split in separate ways.
The guitar work is exciting and sometimes surprising. It stays within the expected boundaries of the genre, yet the riffs are new and unexpected and the style of playing brings interesting dissonance and colour to the ambience. This, combined with the rough production and the powerful, punishing vocal style gives just the right atmosphere to transport the listener into a black mass.
A reading of the lyrics adds to the ritualistic experience. They are written in a Chirstian style of imagery and language, ambiguous in meaning. These are the type of lyrics that could have been mistaken for the spiritual struggles of a Christian devotee, were it not for the album title that safely put an end to all questions.
Despite the minimalistic production and focused restraint of the composition the album is a bit uneven and difficult to get truly immersed in. The repeated pauses in the beginning are frustrating, hindering the flow, as if attempting to start over and over but not breaking free. When the flow finally breaks out it is still fragmented by complicated rhythms that feel like Swedish death metal. The vocal style of short but powerful bursts blending false cord and fry scream also feel more aggressive than hypnotic.
In my opinion the album gets better and better the further into the ritual I get. The real mass starts in the middle, where a sense of elevation and true dark power spirals from the depth of the composition, carried to full force by the strong vocals.
This is an album that will not disappoint any seasoned black metal listener. It is interesting and innovative, yet restrained. Still, the many shifts, turns and pauses makes it unsuitable for real meditation. When it ends, I am left with a feeling of frustration. So many beginnings and none of them was brought to completion. Maybe this is a conscious choice. Something happens with the listener when left with narratives unresolved. You stand there with all the threads in your hands, and it is up to you to tie them together or spin them longer. It can spark a creative process in its own right, beginning where the journey of the album ends. For me the elements are going in too different directions, though. The threads in my hand are just another tangle that I need to put out of sight.
That being said, this is a really good album and my critique comes from my perhaps unreasonably high expectations. 8/10 by Ask den Hängde
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8/10: To Greatness and Glory
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