Denouncement Pyre - World Cremation (2010)

When it comes to sounding evil and grim, the Aussie’s behind Denouncement Pyre got it down to a science. With their first full-length album in 7 years they are finally arriving to American shores via Hell’s Headbangers. The band consists of two members and they alone can create enough havoc to unleash war and hell upon planet earth.

After several demo’s, EP’s, Split’s, we finally get a true full-length release form this band and while it’s a bit short of complete epicness, it does create a very solid atmosphere and has a powerful Black/Death Metal ring to it. As you can expect, the band is short from being original or revolutionary, but they do a great job in sticking to the basics and creating raw melodies without the need of sounding like they recorded this album in the toilet.

“World Cremation” features 8 songs and around 36 minutes of pure evil. There is nothing compromising behind the band’s semi-old school Death/Black Metal aural assault. The band’s riffing is pretty solid and crafts a saw-like atmosphere trough the duration of this album. There are also plenty of Death Metal styled riffs and sections that nicely change the pace of this release in songs like “Engulfed Temples” and “Salvation, the fading Light”, but these DM riffs come almost always paired with some BM-like sections and pounding drumming.

The bands vocals also switch around between deep-ish growls and some shrieks here and there making them sound very grim and evil. Nothing to original, or too high pitched, just enough raspiness to keep things simple and macabre. Paired with the overall ‘mid-tempo’ sound of the band, the vocals greatly help the overall demonic atmosphere of this release beautifully crafted by the crushing guitars.

The drumming behind “World Cremation” is very solid in general. Switching from ‘traditional’ Death Metal patterns to more ‘faster paced’ Black Metal double-kick sections that are not the fastest in the world; however they are effective enough for the pace of the music. Songs like “Purification” show these switching very nicely and when paired with the crazy Thrash Metal sounding guitar solos, they create the perfect raw/old-school BM feeling.

In overall, Denouncement Pyre is a very solid band that sticks to the basics and gets powerful results. With “World Cremation” the band will probably not win any awards when it comes to originality or musical prowess, however, this release is effective enough to create a thick and grim atmosphere that all fans of Black/Death Metal are looking for. So if you are fan of the genre you should definitely pick up this demonic release.

Release: August 31st, 2010

Country: Australia