Scorched Earth ‎"Gods, Kings, And Conquerors" CD

I feel like Scorched-Earth is the band that Possessed would have become if they'd lasted longer than they did. Hell, they might be the only band I could see genuinely comparing to Possessed- the same sort of rickety, twisted, blood and cheap beer-fueled attack is present in Scorched-Earth, just in a slightly more measured, mature form. Imagine if Possessed got to the point where the musicians didn't sound like they were kind of afraid of their instruments and managed to develop their songwriting a little more and you've basically got Scorched-Earth. These guys play a brute, primitive form of black/death metal with its heart firmly set in the '80s or even the '70s, with the daybreak strains of Black Sabbath shining through even in the most brutal moments. 'Gods, Kings, and Conquerors' is like a tour through the three decades of metal before its own release; what it lacks in immediate memorability it more than makes up in scope and organic songwriting.
Scorched-Earth tracks are simple, ripping things based on cascades of blasts and d-beats, primitive death/black/thrash riffs with the occasional untamed Kerry King solo, and a hoarse, screaming vocal performance right from '85. There's a hard rock edge on a lot of the tracks here such as 'Iron Tyrant,' where more than a hint of Motörhead bleeds out into the riffs and rhythms, while other tracks show bits of old Black Sabbath coming out in fits and starts. Despite this definite love of the oldschool, the blasting sections are chaotic and brutal, reminding one of a slightly more put-together Blasphemy more than anything from the original thrash era- the black metal influence, while more of an undercurrent in the tremolo riffs than anything, can be clearly heard by way of the oldest material of Sodom or Sarcófago- if you're expecting any modern incarnations of black or death metal, you're going to be very disappointed by this release. The whole joy of this album is listening to Scorched-Earth pick and choose which band they're emulating at any given moment- a bit of Repulsion here, some Celtic Frost there, and even some 'Altars of Madness'-era Morbid Angel in another place. 'Gods, Kings, and Conquerors' is most definitely a tribute to the oldschool origins of extreme metal, and it works magnificently in that regard.
While I wish that this album had a bit more of its own style and perspective, it accomplishes what it seeks out to do and I can't fault it. The oldschoolers will find this a refreshing blast of ancient brutality (if they can track it down,) so if you count yourself among the faithful, you need to grab this whenever you can.

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