Persecutory - Summoning the Lawless Legions

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In countries that aren’t democracies, but are filled with a religious morality of the greater part of the population, to play Metal can become a crime, and even endanger the lives of the musicians. There are many cases (as NERVOSCHAOS and KRISIUN on Bangladesh some years ago, the Iranian guys of CONFESS condemned to 74 whippings and to years in jail, but who escaped from Iran), so Metal must stand against religious fanatics and in favor of democracy. Turkey is not a fundamentalist state, so a band as PERSECUTORY can exist without dealing with hardships, because the musical content of the lyrics of “Summoning the Lawless Legions” can be offensive to some fundamentalists.

The band plays in a vein of Black/Death Metal similar to ANGELCORPSE and MARDUK on “Serpent Sermon” and “Frontschwein” days, but adding some clear influences from early German Black/Thrash Metal acts as SODOM and KREATOR. So what is heard on this release is something brutal, aggressive, sometimes fast and with an impacting weight, on others is slower and climatic, filled with that darkened and morbid energy that Black/Death Metal fans love. Yes, it’s very good, indeed. The quintet brought Can Gelgeç (who worked with them on “Towards the Ultimate Extinction”) to work on the recording, mixing and mastering, and he found something brutal and oppressive, with that nasty and raw approach that is known of Black/Death Metal acts, but in a defined way that allows the fans to understand the band’s work.

This release has only five songs, all of them with lengths of time between 6 and 8 minutes, and maybe it’s the hardest feature for some maniacs to deal with (remembering that extreme Metal is known for shorter songs). But the darkened shine of songs as “As the Serpents Ascend” (what lovely and charming contrasts between slower tempos and fast moments, with a brutal bone-crushing playing of bass guitar and drums), “Thou Abyssic Fire in Rebellion” (another set of contrasts between fast and slow parts, but now with a gallant and aggressive set of guitar riffs and arrangements), “Adorned in Primeval Seas” (a remarkable song, dealing with brutality and morbid ambiences at the same time, and what great snarls of the vocals can be heard), “Circle of the Spirit Devourers” (a blazing and furious song where some morbid melodic moments  can be heard during the slow parts), and “The Blazing Spheres” is really hard to resist.

Yes, if you don’t know PERSECUTORY’s work, it’s a good time to learn it. “Summoning the Lawless Legions” is really a great release for extreme Metal fans.

Songwriting: 9
Musicianship: 9
Memorability: 8
Production: 8