Demonstealer – The Propaganda Machine
Release Date: 24th March 2023
Label: Black Lion Records
Bandcamp
Genre: Death Metal, Melodic Metal, Technical Death Metal, Black Metal.
FFO: Behemoth, Demonic Resurrection, Cognizance, Aborted, Obscura, Demon King.
Review By: Mark Young
When you think of heavy metal, traditional countries of origin that spring to mind are the UK, US, and the European countries such as Sweden and Denmark. It must be said that I never considered India as being somewhere that would produce heavy, aggressive music such as this.
Active since 1998, there has been one consistent member which is The Demonstealer who handles all musical duties within the band, although he has used guest musicians in the studio as he sees fit. He is also responsible to laying the foundations blocks for the metal community in India and is continually driving forward in getting Indian metal out there, which should be applauded.
With The Propaganda Machine, he has again enlisted some considerable talent in the studio, which reads like a ‘Who’s who’ of extreme metal, and it will be interesting to hear how those different artists shape the overall sound of this.
As you can see from the track-listing, there is a consistent theme running through it, but does it have the chops to back up the ideas?
And yes, it absolutely slays. There is no middle ground here, it’s all or nothing in attack, as he takes in the best influences and puts his own stamp all over it.
The Fear Campaign starts at a rate of knots with some melodic guitar that would not sound out-of-place coming from Scandinavia.
Monolith of Hate belts out, with obvious nods to At the Gates, again with that head down speed that you can’t help but nod to. There are cleans in there, which don’t do that much to add (I’ve already said elsewhere that the clean / growl motif is getting a bit old, depending on the application) but not withstanding, this is great stuff.
Title track, The Propaganda Machine, continues the onslaught with barely a pause for breath and comes for you like vintage Deicide.
The Art of Disinformation, Screams Of Those Dying come and go, despite their track length and maintain the BPM and high level of music presented here.
He then decides that going faster is the way forward, The Great Dictator just mows you down under a blizzard of double bass, blast beats and furious guitars, all underpinned with some barely audible keys. It’s one of the fastest songs I’ve heard, and it doesn’t sound forced, if that makes sense. This was my stand-out song on here because it is just so angry.
We close out with the one-two punch of The Anti-National and Crushing The Iron Fist, with the former taking more inspiration from Deicide in the vocal attack. Music wise, this one just moves. Crushing The Iron Fist brings us to the end of a furious album.
Behind each song there is a unique musical approach that comes from his heritage, so you have some top-class melodies that sit within and dictate the music, so it is familiar and new at the same time. The vocals are just laced with venom, and having the different contributing artists means there is subtle variety within each song.
Make no mistake, this is an incredibly well executed metal album that others within the same musical sphere should listen to. My only criticism is the clean parts, and I should stress that this is minor, but it brought me out of the album which prevents me from giving it the max score.
1. The Fear Campaign
2. Monolith Of Hate
3. The Propaganda Machine
4. The Art Of Disinformation
5. Screams Of Those Dying
6. The Great Dictator
7. The Anti-National
8. Crushing The Iron Fist
(4 / 5)
