Spearhead - Theomachia
Agonia Records
Death Metal
11 songs (36:58)
Release year: 2011
Spearhead, Agonia Records
Reviewed by Charles
Spearhead’s previous album, Decrowning the Irenarch, was expert blackened death, combining the rabid percussive onslaught of Angelcorpse with elements torn from their countrymen on the classic British scene; graspingly catchy death metal grooves perfected by the likes of Bolt Thrower or Benediction. It’s a viciously brilliant album, correctly identified as such by my colleague Goat at the time, with its slathering, up-tempo delivery revealing riffs of searing power and bludgeoning efficacy.

Whilst the band is not well-known, then, the release of Theomachia should generate some tingles of anticipation amongst the alert. Differences between the sounds of the two records are subtle but distinct. This feels like a heavier, denser album, which sacrifices some of the hooky immediacy of the last record to concentrate on raw power. The intention, I guess, is to maximise the aura of sheer deafening brutality that goes with their war-fixation (the only deviations here are the grandiosely militaristic interludes like Praesagium, which is as histrionic as any death metal in its orchestral thunder). The drums, in particular, are pushed up in the mix and given greater reverb. As a result tracks like Herald the Lightning have this feel of total relentlessness, which conjures the image not of battles between the gods of ancient Greece, but of the unendingly bleak, mud-spattered grind of a World War One trench. Occasionally, for example towards the end of Polemos Pater Panton, the whole sound just seems to swell into this harrowing blur, as if your eardrums are struggling to deal with a nearby mortar blast. Sometimes this horror is cut through by Anaximenes’s superb lead solos; frantic passages of rapidfire fretwork which sound simultaneously chaotic and calculated. When these leads are in full flight, their sound is fearsome indeed. Personally, I think they are underused.

Differences shouldn’t be overstated, and it’s a question of shifting the balances within a sound rather than substantially altering it. Both records aim for a place among the pantheon of elite practitioners of what might be termed ‘war metal’, a field arguably led by Deströyer 666. It’s good to see a British act making strides in this arena, alongside London’s impressive Scythian. Spearhead, though, particularly on this album, tend to emphasise grinding brute force over the old school melodic and rhythmic sensibilities that Deströyer 666 is steeped in (as are Scythian), meaning that Theomachia lacks the depth and fluidity that illuminates albums like Cold Steel for an Iron Age. Thus, where Decrowning the Irenarch was a gripping riff-fest, this works better as a display of power, as uncompromising as it is unadorned.

Killing Songs :
Kshatriya, Herald the Lightning, Polemos Pater Panton
Charles quoted 72 / 100
Other albums by Spearhead that we have reviewed:
Spearhead - Decrowning The Irenarch reviewed by Goat and quoted 87 / 100
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