Review written by Glenn “Terra Shredder” Van Bockstaele.

Slaughter The Giant is a Belgian death/black metal band formed in 2018 and this spring they’ve released their first EP. An independent release called “Asylum Of The Damned” and sent to us by band members Benny and Daan. Thanks a lot, folks!

The EP kicks off with “Apocalypse Now,” beginning with a menacing intro featuring church bells, raindrops, wolf howls, moody violins and trumpets before all hell breaks loose. Raging black metal with shrieks, growls and blast beats ripping and tearing through the speakers. It’s a dark and dreary song with an underlying touch of symphony. “Torture And Madness” is a faster tune and during this track’s instrumental middle and ending sections you can clearly hear this band’s sense of melody. It adds a beautiful extra dimension to the song.

Track 3, “The Hell In Me” is a tight rollercoaster mix between the roaring black metal beats and the melodic death metal riffs and vocalist Benny seamlessly switching between throat ripping shrieks and guttural grunts, all without skipping a beat or pushing himself too hard. Next up is “Raging Demons,” which has a slower beginning and then explodes into the same carefully balanced combo of earth trembling death metal, soul stealing black metal and sweet classic metal sections. We wrap up the “Asylum Of The Damned” EP with its title track and for me personally its best song. It has a nice Dimmu Borgir feel to it with the pounding drum beats, the howling riffs and the orchestral touches and finally gently fading away back into the darkness it once came. Great stuff!

Despite Slaughter The Giant’s mere one year existence, these five young men serve a more than tasteful cocktail of black, death, symphonic and melodic metal that’s more than enjoyable to fans of all those aforementioned subgenres and pretty much everyone else! More of this please! Here’s the title track!

80/100