Just as black metal keeps mutating into even more virulent strains, thrash continues vomiting up fresh new abominations as well. Not exactly sure what to call Australia’s charmingly titled Vomitor – necro-thrash seems to be the best fit, as it seems a filthy antipodal cousin to Darkthrone and Mayhem, as well as newer, bestial black metal like Revenge or Teitanblood – but in any case, it’s some pretty demented shit.

For the most part, Devil’s Poison is thrash of the old-school Sodom, Slayer and Possessed variety, but there’s a lot of squiggly Morbid Angel feedback here as well, and it’s so dominant that it sometimes seems like a second vocalist. As for the primary vocals, think Jason Voorhees on a mouthful of bad blotter acid and the mic stuffed up behind his hockey mask. Ch-ch-ch-ch-haaa-haa-haa-haa. And of course, the whole thing sounds like it’s being broadcast through a shitty transistor radio (although that radio sits on a deserted beach where bodies keep washing ashore).

Now, while early tracks like “Crimson Tide” and “Flesh for Satan” are just murderously, batshit insane, things get a lot better when Vomitor scraps the ornamentation and just gets down to bloody business. Riff-heavy firestorms like “Caligula” and “Beast of Sodom” kill and kill again, and the blistering title track sounds like it was ripped directly from Hell Awaits. We even get a classic Araya scream on that one, nice touch. These tracks also succeed because when they do bring back the feedback explosions – the end of “Beast of Sodom,” for example – they feel more like well-earned crescendoes of lunacy rather than just haphazard afterthoughts. A few of the slower tracks like “Saga of the Rage” and “Midnight Madness” feature a more lurching, classic heavy metal approach; they’re more spartan and listenable than some of the faster, more brutal tracks, but they’re not as memorable either.

Ultimately, I don’t know how often I’ll return to this, but I know some of you sick fucks out there will eat this up, puke it all over your lap and then gobble it down for another go-round. So hey, enjoy yourselves.

[Visit the band's website]

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