Death Worship - Extermination Mass.
Review by Trevor Proctor.
First announced back in 2013 ‘Extermination Mass’ by Death Worship will be released on the 15th of February on CD and cassette formats by Nuclear War Now! Productions with the vinyl edition following on the 15th of March, the release is also currently available here on digital formats. For those unfamiliar with the name Death Worship is the creation of Ryan Förster from Conqueror, Domini Inferni and Blasphemy.
All music and lyrics are written by Ryan who’s joined by Nocturnal Grave Desecrater and Black Winds from Blasphemy on additional vocals and J. Read (Conqueror/Revenge) on session percussion – before reading any further just take a moment to look at and digest the pedigree of Death Worship’s membership, which is simply second to none. To say this is one of the underground’s most anticipated releases of recent years is something of an understatement. The underground has waited for over three years with, for some, the anticipation turning into impatience and at times disbelief as to how long it’s taken for this release to surface. However, as we all know, the best things come to those who wait and this is definitely the case with ‘Extermination Mass.’
Ryan Forster always wanted to write his own material but found it difficult to find potential band members who shared his taste and vision and also the talent required to play his style of music. In the past he has written for the likes of Diocletian, Black Witchery and Revenge. Ryan was approached by Yosuke from NWN! who had the idea of financing a new project. J. Read from Revenge was soon on board and was later followed by Nocturnal Grave Desecrater who was keen to be a part of the project and who’s also a long-time supporter of Conqueror. All music and lyrics were written in 2013 and since then NWN! has thankfully been financing rehearsals for Death Worship with the result being we’re now presented with one of the underground’s best releases of recent years.
Those of us who attended Nuclear War Now! Fest Vol V were lucky enough to be given the opportunity to attend a listening session along with the chance to purchase ‘Extermination Mass’ which was released as a special preview edition in a limited quantity of 250 for festival goers. I wasn’t long in grabbing a copy but I’ll also be getting this full release version as there will be slight differences in artwork, layout etc. with all lyrics also being printed on the final release.
From the listening session at the fest to date Ryan has received a lot of very positive feedback regarding ‘Extermination Mass’ and rightfully so, but then again what else would you expect when you consider the standard of musician featured in Death Worship. The music on ‘Extermination Mass’ requires little description – it combines the sheer violence of Conqueror and Blasphemy with song writing aligned, to a certain degree, to that of Blasphemy. Unlike many modern bestial black/death bands Death Worship’s music is laced with many discernible riffs and loads of seriously well placed and well executed guitar solos. The drumming is as precise and intense as you’d expect from J. Read with the tempo shifting on a very regular basis in his usual non-conformist and unpredictable manner. The production on ‘Extermination Mass’ is excellent with a very high attention to detail, understandably so as it was recorded at the Fiasco Bros Recording Studios where Blasphemy’s famous ‘Blood Upon the Altar’ demo and many other releases attributed to the Ross Bay Cult were recorded. Live dates have been discussed but in a recent interview with J Campbell R Förster stated categorically these will be limited shows as this music is not intended for the widespread masses that have currently infiltrated our world. It has even been suggested the live incarnation of Death Worship could be made up of Revenge members but nothing, as of yet, has been finalised – we can only hope that one day we get to see this superb band live. The good news is Ryan has also stated he will work on a Death Worship full length and while we'd be best not to hold our breath for this happening in the meantime at least ‘Extermination Mass’ is more than good enough to help ease the wait.
This line up is ‘dream team’ stuff for fans of underground music and thankfully the standard of music matches the status of the musicians involved, this is essential listening for any fan of Blasphemy, Conqueror etc. Thanks to Death Worship and Nuclear War Now! Productions we’re now presented with what’s definitely one of the year’s best releases, from a band with one sole aim, an aim succinctly summed by R Förster when he stated to J Campbell, “No compromise, no nothing….doing this for the die-hards, for nobody else.”
An easy 10/10 and most definitely one of the best releases of recent years.
Tracklist:
01 - Abomination Storm
02 - Evocation Chamber
03 - Holocaust Altar
04 - Superion Rising
05 - Desolation Summoning
06 - The Chaos Trance.
(The digital version of Extermination Mass also includes the 30 minute interview with Ryan Förster by J Campbell from which some of this information was obtained)
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