Review: Antichrist Siege Machine Build a Wall of Sound Brick By Brick on Vengeance of Eternal Fire
There are bands that are heavy, and then there are bands that, for better or worse, literally only have two modes of operation: asleep or pedal to the metal. Don’t get me wrong, I’m here for it. I respect the grind(core). At a certain point it becomes a feat of endurance, both for the musicians and the listeners. And if nothing else, at least it gets all the other people on the road to roll up their windows and leave you alone.
If there is one onomatopoeia that I would use to most accurately describe Vengeance of Eternal Fire, the new full-length album from the Richmond, Virginia extreme metal duo Antichrist Siege Machine, it would have to be something along the lines of AAAAAAAAAGGGGHHHHHH!!
Sometimes it can be tricky to translate the ephemeral emotional stimuli of music into the rigidity of the written word, but I feel like that’s pretty close.
In case you hadn’t figured it out by now, the defining characteristic of this album is that it is indeed heavy as all shit. It sits somewhere in the spaces between death metal, grindcore, and black metal, leaning most heavily in the grind direction by my reckoning. The production value is surprisingly beefy for a two-piece as well, masking the fact that they don’t have a bass player quite effectively.
It’s also worth noting that their drummer, listed simply and cryptically as “SB”, is also their vocalist, which makes things infinitely more impressive. I will always give massive props to any musician who can simultaneously play their instrument and belt out their vocals, especially if they’re a drummer. That is a level of coordination which I find all but unfathomable, but somehow he manages to pull it off. Consider my hat tipped, partner.
Unfortunately, once you get past the sheer heaviness of it all, that’s where a lot of the allure begins to fade. It might sound brutal, but I honestly couldn’t tell you which song is which since they are all nigh indistinguishable from one another. Other bands who consciously try to be as insanely bonkers heavy as possible, like Vitriol, Hate Eternal, or most recently Replicant, to name a few, are able to pull this off because they also have some variety in their songwriting, with noticeable changes in pacing, groove, and even the occasional pinch of melody to offset the rest of the insanity. Vengeance, however, is pretty much just nonstop go-go-go, and while it’s certainly an impressive display of stamina, that alone is not enough to propel an album into greatness.
At the end of the day, death metal’s gonna do what death metal does. This album is intense for sure, but sadly it’s also quite forgettable. It’s kind of like if you took a frozen TV dinner and drenched it in the final sauce from Hot Ones; it’ll make you say “Holy shit” and get your heart racing, but once the sensation is over you’re not exactly going to be falling over yourself to go back to it, not when there are a bevy of readily available and frankly superior alternatives. Intensity alone can only go so far when not also tempered with nuance, and it’s impossible to build or gain momentum when the music is nothing but momentum.
I was fortunate enough to make it to one of the dates on Emperor’s last run across the US and these guys were the opening act, and they did manage to whip up some nice pits during their set, so clearly they are resonating with a lot of people. I can’t begrudge them that, and even if I wanted to it wouldn’t make one bit of difference. But I will say, I got a similar impression of them at the time, and after hearing both their live performance and their recorded material, it’s safe to say that this is kinda just what they do.
Antichrist Siege Machine have a lot of potential, but unless they decide to switch things up and throw in some additional elements instead of simply a mountain of pure uncut ferocity, then I personally am gonna have to take a pass, and knowing them, I wouldn’t hold my breath. I love a good aural ass beating as much as the next metal head, but you’ve gotta give me something to work with. It’s not bad, and somebody else will probably enjoy it a lot more than I did, but it’s just too one-dimensional for my taste. Oh well, can’t win ’em all.
Vengeance of Eternal Fire is out now via Profound Lore Records, order your copy here
