Hailing from Milwaukee, Wisconsin but with a name that comes from the Serbo-Croatian word for contempt , Black Metal entity ‘Prezir’ are following up last year’s debut EP, the aptly named ‘Contempt’, with a crushing debut full length ‘As Rats Devour Lions’.
It’s an eight track, forty minute slice of Black Metal with a Thrashy edge that grabs you by the throat and demands your attention, not surprising considering the line-up includes the versatile pipes of Luka from Tolkien inspired Brutal Deathsters Khazaddum/Promethean Parallax, Rory from Shroud of Despondency/ Promethean Parallax and ex: Shroud of Despondency guitarist Tyler, there’s a lot of talent and variety of experience being brought into the mix and for me there is also always something quite irresistible to the ears in a good old chunk of Black ’n’ Thrash and none more so than ‘As Rats Devour Lions’ .
‘As Rats Devour Lions’ is a very well constructed and delivered collection of tracks that, whilst staying within that Black ’n’ Thrash remit, are hugely varied, encompassing historical elements, alongside contempt and blasphemy. The vocals, across all tracks are a vitriolic rasp alongside a deeper growl made all the more exciting with the inclusion of an abundance thrashy lead squeals and shreds. Opening on ‘As Rats Devour Lions’ where the addictive riffs start off thrashy as hell before turning bleakly black and bass lines that lurk menacingly at the bottom end of the sound of a well punctuated track, one of my favourites of the release.
Continuing on with ‘Ideologue Alchemy ‘ black and intense with manic direction switching, soaring blackened lead work, then ‘Janičari ‘ where squealing thrashy leads open maniacally over the insanely fast and crushingly intense delivery and ‘Dar al-Harb’ continues that bleak black and crushingly intense mood but with a drop in the pace.
‘Serpents in the House of Ra’ is another favourite, powerfully delivered riffing, coming in quite low and sinister in places giving a dark Thrash edge, a squeal to the lead work, the second chunk of which has a stunningly majestic soar to it’s delivery that will warm the most blackened of hearts and an there’s an excellent commentary between the higher and lower vocals.
‘Hamatsa Death Ritual’ is another that takes on that insanely fast and crushingly intense pace, but with a couple well placed, powerfully punchy tempo drops for added impact. There’s still no let up with the penultimate and vitriolic ‘Plagiarized Infamy’ with its galloping paced second half , closing on the haunting and majestic ‘Oedipus Context’, which is dominated by variants in a repeat riff that soars and dives in the most sublime manner, with some singularly crazy lead work manifesting in the second half, a superb end to an excellent album , making you want to listen all over again.
‘As Rats Devour Lions’ will be released digitally on Sept 17 via Godz Ov War Productions
https://prezir.bandcamp.com/ with one track available to listen now, go over and check it out, it’ll be six minutes of your time well spent, but be warned, you’ll probably want to buy the whole album, it’s a blistering Black ’n’ Thrash face ripper.
Rating – 4.5/5
The Metal Wanderlust 