Artist: Zweihander
Country: Chile
Label: Abbatoir Prods. / Fehexenheit Prod.
Formats: Demo CDr
Year: 2025
Besides the black/white/red artwork that reveals just about everything of what to expect musically, it was this band’s name that attracted my attention. A German name for a Chilean band might seem odd, but Zweihander (two-hander, in English) is as Google tells me also the name of a huge sword that you need to wield with two hands. So, while checking out some new music this young Chilean band also offers a bit of general education. At least, I hope they named themselves after the medieval weapon and not the computer game with the same that I also found…
Musically Zweihander indeed finds itself in exactly the realm of Black/Death Metal that come to expect from such cover art: unhinged and ugly War Metal that is reminiscent of the genre giants that once started this whole more than three decades ago. The lads here are not beating around the bush, this is a straight-up musical homage to Blasphemy and Archgoat. And they are doing this in a pretty convincing and authentic fashion too. Which means, not only the pummelling rhythms and wild barking vocals, but especially the grinding tone of old Archgoat and Naked Whipper feels very genuine. And, not in the least, I love the production of ‘Disciplines Of Gro-Goroth’. Or well, production, there is not a real production, it is just the raw way the tracks were recorded that fits perfectly to this music’s unbridled, primitive energy. Admittedly, I needed a few spins for this to fully sink in and hear the roughness and toughness of the riffs, but these guys certainly know their craft. This isn’t merely noise and chaos, there’s a good portion of crunchy and punchy riffs that really needs some chewing. The only thing that they should reconsider is that few moments of Ambient/Dungeon Synth at the end, that takes away quite a bit of the impact of the fierce onslaught of the previous 10 minutes.
Saying that this isn’t original is more than redundant, but it is the sheer power and authenticity with which these tracks are canned that makes ‘Disciplines Of Gro-Goroth’ a very enjoyable first demo.
