Deathorde - Deathorde

Drugoth and Shograath unfurled tempestuous hate with their split release, titled We are Legion in 2024. Prior to that, the two mates from Australia had released albums and EPs under their own names and collaborating with each other. Deathorde was born through the 2024 split, with the idea of forging an entity that could finally play live.

Opening with the horde stomp and pick scrape of “Blood Red,” the start of the war is upon you. The bodies that march into death are visible, and they will be nailed by thorns. Pick scrapes are long forgotten art forms, that just sound so damn cool, and they are used well here. Deathorde also employ it to better effect on the closing title track. A horde is a large group of people, in other ways a roman army, or a legion. This is what has Drugoth and Shograath have crafted over the last few years, a warrior’s mentality, it is an empowering battle scarred war on Christ.

Deathorde is a caveman and axe to the stomach take on Death Metal, but with some blackened edges too. Like all of the material these two have made before this, Deathorde is remarkable in its execution and consistency, and they do this by repetition. One riff does not follow a different transition. Riffs and drum patterns and vocals are timed equally in sections rather than verse, chorus, verse, and they expand and throttle the listener repeatedly.

There is no mercy here, tracks like “Pigs of Christ” and “Rape Worship” are savage in name, theme and sound. God has no armour, and listening to this misanthropic 23 minutes is about as good as it gets in extreme metal in 2025. It is a desecration of the holy kingdom.

You could say that extreme metal takes no prisoners, but a lot of what I hear in the last few years is over polished and over washed to the point where there is a sense that very little artists are doing it for the right reasons, perhaps false Nazarenes. What I like about Deathorde is that they have an attitude that is uniquely Australian, a care factor that is below zero. There is a horde that will follow, a legion and a tribe. This is a choke hold on christ, as Good Friday approaches, the cross is upturned, and the horde marches on with their fingers raised.