Holy wars
-- Kill Frenzy --
17/02/2022
Stijn Daneels
Album genres:
■ | Thrash Metal |
Album artists:
■ | Guthrie Garnham | Guitar/backing vocals |
■ | Carl Retief | Vocals |
■ | Ryan Wentzel | Bass |
■ | Konrad Vosloo | Drums |
[METAL SHREDDER REPORTING]
About a
week ago Kill Frenzy contacted us to check out their new single “No Gods Have
Mercy.” They kept their introduction simple with just a friendly greeting and links
to the single’s music video and to their press kit. I’ve always liked it when
bands contact us personally to shred through their work so let’s give this
fledging band a very close look.
[SHREDDING BASICS]
“No Gods
Have Mercy” is the fifth single from the South-African thrash metal band Kill
Frenzy and is released via Unscathed Records. The song has
both a full and radio edit version and in this review, we’re looking at the
full version. The single begins with religious speeches, one more threatening
than the other and all trying to sell you to their respective faiths. Then the
band comes in with slow, grinding riffs and equally slow, roaring vocals with occasional
speedups of pounding thrash.
While Kill Frenzy’s earlier singles are enjoyable thrashers, I like this
new single more. The slower beats and vocal deliveries in particular make the
song feel very menacing and atmospheric. In addition, with this specific pacing
the band’s riffs and lyrics are significantly more impactful, especially after
a quick round of fast, old-school thrashing. “No Gods Have Mercy” has a solid beginning
(those opening guitar and drum beats do a good job building up the tension) and
ending (the instruments gradually fade away one by one at the end), two things
that their earlier material missed.
While the production of Kill Frenzy’s material is clearly DIY (a philosophy
they want to keep) they do manage to make their singles sound crisp and clear.
These DIY elements add a certain rawness to their overall sound although I’m
curious to hear how they would sound and feel like if they would be using a
professional producer, maybe their sound would become even beefier.
[SHREDDING VISION]
The artwork
of Kill Frenzy’s “No Gods Have Mercy” features a bloodied plaque with the
symbols of the three main Abrahamic religions, Christianity’s cross, Judaism’s
Star of David & Islam’s Crescent and Star slapped one top of the other. Nothing
really special, but what I like the most about “No Gods Have Mercy” in terms of
visuals is the accompanying music video!
The music
video for “No Gods Have Mercy” features the three main band members dressed as
clerics, each representing an Abrahamic religion. One is dressed as a Catholic priest,
the other as an Muslim imam and finally one as a Jewish rabbi. The three
clerics gear up on weapons and move to a field to fight and kill each other
while a Buddhist monk mediates peacefully in the distance while also closely and
subtly watching the battle unfold. Eventually the priest wins only to
immediately get stabbed by a Tom Cruise look-alike (obviously a reference to Scientology).
If you’re
easily offended by religious mockery then you better don’t watch the music
video as it’s full of religious stereotypes and clichés. The priest secretly
reads adult magazines (got
to do something to get your celibate rocks off) & uses Catholic-fueled superpowers by the end (basically
turning himself into the pope), the imam wears an AK47, a turban & a suicide-bomb
jacket (and has a picture of his 3 bourka wearing wives) and the rabbi is more
interested in money than anything else, even at the cost of his life. That
being said, however, if you don’t take your faith all too seriously then you’ll
find this to be a well-edited and funny video with a good spice of political
incorrectness.
[SHREDDER’S SCORECARD]
7 Abrahamic
clashes out of 10. A solid thrasher that exchanges speed and frenzy for
atmosphere and impact while also showing that a DIY approach can also lead to
some well-produced material. Kill Frenzy is a fun band to check out, unless your easily
offended by violence or religious mockery but if that’s the case, then why are
you into metal anyway?