“Oh sure, just put on the new Körgull to keep up the energy while you clean the house,” I thought. “These guys are always reliable for some ripping thrash, what could go wrong?”
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As I wipe the soot from my eyes, I began to shuffle across the smoldering, ashen ruins of what used to be a lovely–if a bit untidy–home. What once was a meticulously embroidered cleaning apron has been fashioned around my waist into some sort of loincloth of war. I begin to sift through the rubble, my arms adorned with some sort of homemade gauntlets crafted from dish gloves and steel wool. “What the hell happened?” I ask myself as I dig for some sort of clue to the carnage. “Gas leak? Furnace eruption?” My eyes land on a sparking speaker poking up from the ruins. “Oh, right,” I remembered. “Körgull.”
And what does Körgull The Exterminator want, exactly? From the swirling uncertainty of primitive black metal bore a band that dared to live up to their namesake and ask a viable question: “What if Voivod got really into early Kreator and Destruction after Rrröööaaarr and Killing Technology?” Best place to start is the sharpest point of the spike: the aptly titled Built To Kill.
“Existential Risk” demonstrates Körgull’s master mechanic handling of Voivodian technology. Not only are the Piggy chords and punk spirit present, but the bizarre, shift-on-a-dime songwriting even carries the charm of the salad days of the Canadian legends–complete with seemingly random surf rock licks at the 1:48 mark that somehow bolt snuggly onto the scrapyard beast the band are abundantly over-armoring in their quest to Crush All Posers And Destroy The Weak And The False No Wimps Allowed, Amen.
“The Nine Circles Of Hell” comes storming in to whirl up whatever mess it was Midnight and Hellripper left in their hotel rooms and add it to their armor with no-holds-barred speed metal frenzy. It’s color-by-numbers, but its cohesive and fun as hell. The title track, unfortunately, is a little wanting–there’s a lot going on that sounds good on its own but it doesn’t quite all work together. The stuttered chug, the layered vocals, none of it quite adds up to the fluidity of the first few tracks.
Conversely, with “Exterminator,” Körgull reclaim the glory of eponymous nomenclature. Searing solos find wind over primal, raw black/thrash that harkens to the Brazilian 80’s sound as the contrasted vocals howl out (with Slaughter’s emphasis on the last syllable): “EX-TERMINATE-TOR!” Of course, the garage sound is long gone, but that early evil still manifests within the iron heart of the mighty Körgull, the Extermina-TOR!
Of course it’s time to hail a victory, and “Night Of The Devil” rides out as one: If that galloping rhythm guitar meeting the blistering leads amongst Necrobitch’s “oughs” and “aughs” doesn’t evoke a feeling of triumph then the fire-borne solos surely will. “Death To The Human Race” contrasts this with a blitzkrieg of nihilistic punk energy that evolves into a thrash addled riff-fest on “Ritual Suicide.”
It all comes to a head on “Count Estruch.” Perhaps appropriately reaching climax at the point where the 80s bled over into the 90s, Körgull find that sweet spot where extreme thrash pushes its way into black metal territory like a goat through a vulva. Sure, its fucked up, but its also kinda beautiful, ya know?
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So there’s definitely a reason my house is in shambles instead of the sparkling beacon of home living it was meant to be when I started out on this venture. It wasn’t an entirely flawless execution of thrashing madness, no, but goddamn if Built To Kill doesn’t spark enough joy to ignite the fumes of felony arson. Körgul’s been around the block and hung strong with good reason–they’re still sharpening their blades, machining a more efficient beast from the metal they want to hear, and fighting fiercely for their space on the shelf regardless of whatever anyone else is doing. So listen up, Marie Kondo said so.