Hailing from Algeria in North Africa, Devast play a form of jagged, choppy, twangy technical death metal, that while fits all the paradigms of technical death metal, has a little of its own character and differs from the sudden flurry of California tech death that’s assaulted the scene of late.

The 8 songs on this 23 minute release deliver a controlled chaos that’s the death metal equivalent of a Spider/Ant documentary music. What it lacks in cohesion, it makes up for with a unique, scrawling take on tech death metal that’s hard to put your finger on as the guitars of Idir screech and squeal with a little or no structure and the drums of Fetus tumble and rumble like a rockslide. Only “Inhuman Atrocity pt 1” displays any sort of restraint amid the likes of the aptly titled “Barbaric Hellstorm”, “Cruel Destiny”, “Ligitime Massacre” and “Deluge of Hate”. The vocals are about the only real standard sound on the album with a gruff growl that’s there amid the tangled, jumbled, but effective and not the usual polished production.

It’s hard to give you a comparison, as Devast do a good job of making tech death metal their own, but maybe a mix of Australia’s The Dead mixed with a rougher, more primal Mithras would be a good starting point. That all being said, I happen to like the predictable polish of other more recognized tech death metal, and while Devast appear to have a interesting, off the beaten path on the genre, I still find myself returning to the likes of Decrepit Birth and Severed Savior for my tech death fix.

[Visit the band's website]

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