Lista de los grupos Black Metal Zygoatsis S.K.U.D (Satanic Kultus - Unholy Desecration)

After so many years of releasing nothing but demos and splits, Thailand's barbaric deathsquad releases their debut full length album, Satanic Kultus - Unholy Desecration. Building on the foundation that they have solidified with their 2006 split with Hacavitz and more recently, with their Warhymns demo, S.K.U.D. strikes at the listener hard, and without any mercy at all.

The album opens with Evoke the Goatphomet, and seemingly taking inspiration from bands like Impiety, Zygoatsis here begins with the sounds of desecration on a holy ground, with a machine gun going off and killing everything in sight in what sounds like a Thai Buddhist temple, and with little warning, the real onslaught begins. Drummer Sunyaluxx takes the spotlight here with his relentless punishing on the skins, and the listener's ears are bludgeoned mercilessly with a vengeance. At the speed and intensity that he is going at, it is almost surprising that he hardly misses a beat. The moments on the album where he utilises methods such as the gravity blast such as on Black-Forced Khaostorms only serve to enhance the experience of S.K.U.D., further increasing and enhancing the aggressive element of the music.

The guitars of Patiwat and Avaejee adds to the desecration with their chaotic riffing, alternating between pure black metal style to aggressive death metal chugging patterns such as on Satanic Kultus Altar, reminding listeners of bands such as Impiety, only with a more death metal edge to the song structure. Guitar solos are also rare, with the first one only making an appearance on Black-Forced Khaostorms, and even then, it is buried deep within the mix. This is then topped by the angry growls of vocalist Thiti (aka Lord Sickness666). The lyrics are also sufficiently Satanic and blasphemous, albeit in slightly broken English but this ultimately serves to bring out that barbaric quality in the band and does little to affect the Zygoatsis experience.

On the tracks Zygoatical Epidemic Assassination and Black-Forced Khaostorms, Shyaithan of Impiety makes a guest appearance as well, and it's hard to find any moment more blasphemous than this. Throughout the album as well, various sound effects of war and destruction are used, and to good effect, such as the sounds of marching on Wage War in Blasphemy. The included bonus track on the CD version is Impiety's Lords of Apokalypse, and Zygoatsis executes it with much flair, putting a more aggressive edge to the original track, and certainly serves as a fitting tribute.

What is noticed on the record is also the difference in production qualities compared to before. While releases prior to this featured a muddy-raw production style, S.K.U.D. presents to listener a more razor-sharp style of production, similar to other Canadian-styled barbaric war metal bands like Revenge and the likes. The effect is evident from tracks like the re-recorded Zygoatical Epidemic Assassination, which was also on the Warhymns demo. The extreme loudness on the album is also suitable, especially the high mix of the drums, and this ensures that no one is left standing at the end of the 40 minutes.

Zygoatsis with S.K.U.D. has certainly made the long wait for the album worth it, and is definitely war metal at one of its best. For people who are not used to such chaotic style of metal, this record may be dismissed as yet another one full of brainless blasting. But who cares? S.K.U.D.'s aim is precisely relentless blasting, and this serves as a big fuck-off to such posers.