DEATHSTORM – Cascophonies

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7.0

• Bands:
  DEATHSTORM
• Duration: 00:28:04
• Available from: 05/22/2026
• Label:

• Dying Victims Productions

What could we ever ask from a band like Deathstorm? Anything but renewal. The strength – or weakness – of the Austrian trio in constantly wanting to promote the faithful formula of thrash metal studded with riffs borrowed, indefinitely, from those who patented them with graceful aggression in the legendary '80s, remains established even today. No variations on the theme: Slayer, Exodus, Dark Angel and Demolition Hammer on one side, the Teutonic triad on the other, with Kreator waving the flag of hatred in the front row.

This is the inspiration that marked the birth of the Graz group in 2010, this is the cornerstone on which the band's ardor rests in 2026, re-proposed in great style in “Cascophonies” here, the fifth album chapter which, in fact, does not shift the impetus expressed by Deathstorm one iota. An avalanche of thrash with shrill death drops from the first wave (Possessed and Sadus on the shields) defines a fragment of sound just under thirty minutes long, during which all lovers of the old guard will be able to rejoice and put their hearts at rest, remaining safe from any more modern contaminations.
However, this total devotion to the stylistic elements mentioned above is also mixed with a hint of confusion: the pieces, all relatively short, do not shine very clearly with linearity; in fact, more often than not, the surgical insertion of riffs, of sure impact, crash when faced with sudden changes in rhythm and arrangement, thus creating a slight disorientation when listening.
This is why the most enjoyable moments of the album are to be found in the moments in which the situation stabilizes the most, thanks to midtempos with a clear Slayerian feel (“Partially Devoured”, “Black Knife Night”, “Mortuorum Files” above all), in addition to “The Toxic Waltz”-style outbursts on the occasion of episodes such as “Cease to Exist”, a song with an immediate impact that well represents the proactive standard of the Austrians.

However, there is an element in the new “Cascophonies”, which rewards in its own way the work of Marco (vocals and bass), Ferdinand (guitar) and Manuel (drums) and is summed up in an underlying enjoyment capable of going beyond the evident creative immobility perpetrated by the band in these sixteen years of career; in this regard, we invite you to let yourself be hit by the series of slingshots thrown by “Horripilation”.
“Mask of Sanity” and “Mount Eerie” inevitably take us back in time, where everything exploded in all its thunder, allowing us once again to shake our skulls with the angry and rough carefreeness of the old days.
Once again therefore, we close our eyes to Deathstorm's stubbornness, rewarding the extreme dedication to vintage (and damned) thrash metal, carried out with professionalism and profound passion.