As if a tempest of fire summoned by a scarlet coloured beast the five-headed ten-horned monstrosity of Kadıköy, Türkiye-based death metal quintet DIABOLIZER blazes through their sophomore full-length album with blasphemic, endtime calling furor. Built in the image of this great diabolic beast ‘Murderous Revelations‘ is crazed, frenzied mid-possession as it slashes through blackened and grinding machinations in order to illustrate the volatile derangement intended. Rather than fit into the usual ‘old school’ categorization these daemon-kind call upon a further refined, more extreme potency generations beyond death metal’s impetus without straying from the central call and purpose of the riff.

Diabolizer formed circa 2012 between folks who’d featured in brutal death metal band Decaying Purity as well as nearby formations of Burial Invocation (three of these folks played on ‘Rituals of the Grotesque‘ EP) and the whole deal was technically an offshoot of Engulfed when they’d started as a duo. If you are a fan of riffs their reputations precede them, you should already be convinced these guys will bring a brain-melting attack… but if you’re a newer death metal fan its worth mentioning guitarist Mustafa and bassist Malik also generate indomitable carnage in Hyperdontia. Résumés aside these folks’ve only more recently returned to this band beyond 2016 with a debut LP (‘Khalkedonian Death‘, 2021) which I’d reviewed favorably praising the balance of classicism and brutality. The most common comparison folks make to their sound is (early) Vomitory and that makes enough sense up front but I’d pointed to mid-90’s Sinister for a basal reference and suggested some deeper blackened death undercurrents running through that record, something not-so obsessed with the ‘old school’ tag but still created as pure death metal.

‘Murderous Revelations‘ is no less about the riff as the previous album, slashing at a rate fans of early 2000’s Polish brutal and blackened death will immediately appreciate for its locked in blasts and strong bass guitar hammer grinding alongside. While I’d say earlier stuff from the band had this 90’s/early 2000’s Vader level of whip and wah pedal flinging leads (see: “Seeds of the Dethroned”) to it their hammer now feels like it was pulled directly from my own post-high school heyday, an acceleration beyond late 90’s ideation. That feeling isn’t all there is to this record, even the opener “Into the Depths of Diseased Minds” makes it clear they’re going to switch things up along the way, as some of the blackened death grooves and even some semi-melodic muse makes its way into the recesses of the full listen.

We’re suddenly hitting a mid-paced trot and a vomitous rasp as “Hogtied in Razorwire” brings in dual vocal layers, belligerent vocalizations and blackened guitar streaks that drain toward increasingly anxious brutality as the song wrenches through its opening section. This song kind of hits that post-‘Eternal‘ Malevolent Creation itch in my brain for whatever reason and I’d appreciated they’d switched up the vocals to something strange as fuck right there in the earlier portion of the album. “Purulent Divinity in Black Flames” explores that blackened affect more clearly within its first half, bringing some different guitar techniques into their gig which range from blackened death, to grinding estrangement, and some of the hardest hit blasts on the record in general; While this album is just as (if not more) percussive in its directive as ‘Khalkedonian Death‘ they’ve balanced the final render a bit more toward the guitars and vocal layers, maintaining a heavier bass guitar presence when it counts but mostly dialing in the guitars as the main event. This is more obvious when the speed really picks up on the opener and “Purulent Divinity in Black Flames”. For my own taste these guys shouldn’t hesitate to go further with the blackening and freaked out vocals (within reason) as it adds a lot of repeatable interest to these bigger, more intensely detailed and quick-turning pieces.

“Seeds of the Dethroned” is a major highlight for my own taste, not only as a Side A finisher but a piece which takes things in even more of classic (‘Revelations‘-era) Vader riffcraft infused direction, chipping through its breakneck wah-tilted flow and extreme thrash structure. While they’ve touched upon something familiar there it still fits within the already broad umbrella of Diabolizer‘s sound, an amped but always classicist pull which changes things up song-over-song to keep the album varietal and always skirting rote repetition of forms. That said, the riffs don’t stop for a second over on Side B as “Bloodsteam Bonegrinder” finds a way to pull back into that textural mode but break it up with rock-tipped leads and some slower parts to make more sense set next to the creative breach of “Set the World Ablaze (Infernal Dawn)”.

You could accuse Diabolizer‘s riff machine of being locked in, fixated on a particular reap for the middle portion of the album. Sure the aforementioned variety is there but the sheer battery crushed through is as unforgiving and tightly wound as the most recent Hyperdontia record all riffs considered. Where I’d felt they reached a total high and a different ‘third act’ on this album’s running order was within the last ten minutes, or, final two songs. The tunnel vision is most warped and tuned in at the point that they throttle through “Deathmarch of the Murderous Tyrant” and begin to draw jagged lines with the verse riffs and break off into tremolo-picked tangents that keep a short fuse. That song in particularly recalls my own teenaged years sitting with records like ‘Imperial Doom‘ and following the surprisingly brutal crack through. The walking basslines, sprawling grooves and slow-built step of “Into the Jaws of Cerberus” are all technically built from an oeuvre which ‘Murderous Revelations‘ has already communicated in full yet all of it feels like added momentum heading into those final two faster pieces, still cutting fresh riffs ’til the very last minute.

On one hand I could make the argument that Diabolizer are an honest, real deal death metal band and their output is simply solid stuff that amps an unreal swat-and-roar like third gen bands had beyond the reach of the 90’s. On the other hand I’d say ‘Murderous Revelations‘ is a pleasure to listen to for its attack being wizened by more than generational reference, a certain malevolent/blasphemic energy they’ve put into every performance that transcends “good” shit towards something great, well above-average craft of experience which is inherently straight forward. However you might twist their work into meaning these folks have created another bully of a death metal record, a killer that doesn’t hesitate for a split second of these ~39 minutes of ripping and tearing. All the more reason that the cover artwork from Dechristianize Art suits the fiery summon of these folk’s work and the sound of this record, a calamity erupting with an intense sense of motion in view. The whole package speaks to the already high standard this crew (and all associated) have managed these last several years while still finding somewhere new to go with it, continuing to evolve around a solid core of pure death metal in the best tradition. A high recommendation.

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