I’ve been to exactly one movie at a theater this year, and it was a socially distanced work event where we rented out a screen and watched “Godzilla vs Kong,” a gigantic battle you really should see on a big screen with a supreme sound system. I have a soft spot for the old Japanese Godzilla movies because they’d play on Saturday afternoons when I was a kid, and they both terrified and enthralled me.
Seattle titans Oxygen Destroyer capture a lot of that monster movie mayhem in their music, which is very much on point, and that rushes to the surface on their explosive new record “Sinister Monstrosities Spawned By the Unfathomable Ignorance of Humankind,” a title long enough you likely need a breath after saying it. Their pummeling death metal pays homage to the old titanic battles that could consume entire cities (their name comes from the weapon used to destroy Godzilla in the original 1954 movie), and this new record focuses half on Japanese kaiju films and half on American and UK movies such as “The Giant Claw” and “Gorgo.” The band—vocalist/guitarist Lord Kaiju, guitarist Joey Walker, bassist Paul Wright, drummer Chris Craven—packs these eight tracks and 29 minutes with enough vicious power to make you wonder if you haven’t just watched two behemoths tangle.
“Merciless Embodiment of Everlasting Death” gets things off to a horrific start with animalistic battles and screams before the track drills open, and splattering fury just goes off. Savage chaos rips through you, the leads ignite, and speed is unleashed before the track comes to a furious end. “Possessing the Putrified Remnants of the Unholy God Incarnate” rips apart with vile growls and stampeding thrashing that makes the earth feel like it’s imploding. The growls hurl buildings while the drumming destroys with the leads heating up and charging. Fluid guitars clear your mind for a moment before the torment returns in full and explodes. “Slaughtering the Guardian Monsters” has beasts snarling and a punchy tempo that comes right for you. The vocals do significant damage while the pace feels like a battering ram, and then great guitar work emerges and blocks the sun, as everything comes to a menacing finish. “Sons of the Necrobeast” is awash in insanity as it dawns with the growls blazing and the playing turning rock to rubble. Nasty violence explodes, the drums maul, and vicious riffs take over and smash lights.
“Enduring the Maternal Rage of the Amphibious Monstrosity” has a strange, disembodying open before the riffs arrive and the drums rumble, with mauling growls leading the way. Chaos stampedes over everything, the band mangles you, and every element does its job to smash away at buildings. “The Plague Spreading Horror from 20,000 Fathoms” dashes amid monstrous growls and playing that stomps innards as the drums come unglued. The guitar work dizzies as the bottom end thickens and spacious hell envelopes your mind, destroying everything in its path. “As Big as a Battleship” starts off with the ominous UFO reports from the aforementioned film “The Giant Claw,” and then the madness is realized, and things fire up in a hurry. Guitars sizzle and send fire as the blasts jam your insides, and the lava bubbles and flows forcefully, raining down devastating blows as the song ends. “Their Reign Has Begun” is the closer that mashes massively as the guitars twist and mangle, and fierce wails send seismic waves. Total slaughter is achieved as the band keeps battling, the tempo packs on some nasty firing, and the final moments shroud everything with smoke and fire, with the city being given its last rights.
There is no way to hear “Sinister Monstrosities Spawned By the Unfathomable Ignorance of Humankind” and not envision great beasts doing battle in the center of a major metropolis, with human forces scrambling to figure out how to save humanity from the aftermath. And that’s just the point of Oxygen Destroyer’s music, which is purposely heavy and utterly terrifying in the best way. This is great, cataclysmic fun and a total beast of death metal hell.
For more on the band, go here: https://www.facebook.com/KaijuConjuringDeathMetal
To buy the album, go here: https://shop.redefiningdarkness.com/
Or here (cassette, coming soon): https://headsplitrecords.storenvy.com/
For more on the label, go here: https://www.facebook.com/redefiningdarkness/
Meat Mead Metal 