Sons Of Azrael preview

Sons Of Azrael
The Note, Chicago
Friday, August 17, 2007

In a scene where boundaries can’t be pushed hard enough, Sons Of Azrael nonetheless try to be the fastest, loudest, heaviest, and darkest.

Grindcore, black metal, and death metal are generally considered the most extreme subgenres metal has to offer. The term extreme metal, however, is generally used as a catchall for bands who borrow from all those but who don’t hang their hats on any one. It’s relentlessly heavy, deceivingly complicated, and unapologetically inaccessible. That doesn’t mean, though, it can’t be musical. Strapping Young Lad are super-duper heavy, but still know how to craft a song. Lately, though, extreme metal has become merely a dumping ground for bands with a few pit-worthy riffs and an incoherent gargling vocalist, but no real ideas. Sons Of Azrael have only a few ideas on their Ironclad/Metal Blade debut The Conjuration Of Vengeance: Christianity is bad (“Turn That Crown Upside Down”; “Angel Dust”), Satan is cool (“Sweet Blasphemy”), Carnage were a good band (“Scent Of A Dead Whore”), and suicide is still a bad-ass heavy metal song topic (“End Of The Rope”). No choruses, no melodies, no hooks . . . nothing, just hammer-to-the-head brutality. In other words, Sons Of Azrael often make a fuss, but rarely make an impact.

Sons Of Azrael, along with Crematorium, Infernaeon, and Cripple Ewe, open for Pyrexia.

– Trevor Fisher

Click here to listen to streamed samples of The Conjuration Of Vengeance.

Category: Stage Buzz, Weekly