Tuesday 26 August 2014

Keitzer - The Last Defence (Album Review)


Album Type: Full Length
Date Released: 18/7/2014
Label: FDA Recotz/7Degree Records

‘The Last Defence’ CD/DD/LP track listing:

01). Bellum Indicere 01:36
02). Exist To Destroy 01:00
03). This Is The Only Solution 02:47
04). Forever War 03:17
05). Marching Forward To Victory 03:35
06). The Last Defence 03:10
07). Next Offensive 02:46
08). We Are The Serpents Of Doom 02:12
09). Fleshcrawl 04:20
10). Todgeweiht 01:10
11). Glorious Dead 03:21
12). Ausgelöscht 01:45
13). Crusade 03:38
14). ... Before Annihilation 01:58

The Band

Christian Silva Chaco | vocals
Nicolai Hinse | guitar
Michael Dölle | guitar
Simon Venig | bass
Tim Terhechte | drums

Review:

German death/grind destroyers Keitzer return with fourteen tracks of brutal carnage. The boxes are all ticked: instrumental to start, then straight into some speedy and expertly played grind with ‘Exist To Destroy’.This is The Only Solution’ keeps energy levels high and pedal mostly to the metal before the rather unexpected acoustic intro ofForever War’. Normal blasting duty resumes and the band play like Bolt Thrower on amphetamine.

‘Marching Forward To Victory’ starts with a rather foreboding riff and the band push for glory with time changes and double bass drums aplenty thereafter. The production is nice- boxy and compressed and heavier than that description makes it sound!

‘The Last Defence’ continues the war-like themes. Blasts contribute to a veritable maelstrom of noise before a classic breakdown rears its head. An excellent passage of guitar work follows and you can imagine the damage this assault would do to a live audience.

Overall, the tracks are relatively short and sweet- lots of ideas in each, mind and ‘Next Offensive’ is no exception. Different pacing means that the whole record is not just mired in hyper speed‘We Are The Serpents of Doom’ is not doom. It is very fast. It is also quite catchy and the riffing is excellent.

‘Fleshcrawl’ is the album's epic at 4.20 and delivers lots of changes and skull rattling bass in that time.  ‘Todgeweiht’ is just over a minute of aural bullying before ‘Glorious Dead’ brings an unusual ¾ feel to the riff.  ‘Ausgeloscht’ is furious but not all fast with nice guitar interplay in the middle section.

‘Crusade’ follows with a cool opening riff and that bass tone underpinning it all. The drums are very well played throughout- fast and accurate- which is no mean feat with this type of material. The dryness of the drum sound would have exposed lesser players' sloppiness- but there are no such problems here.  Indeed, the closing...Before Annihilation’ positively motors along with accurate and speedy blasts and picking the order of the day.

If you like this genre, you cannot fail to enjoy this record. Great sound, great riffs and a tight band playing at the top of their game, Keitzer is the real deal. If you enjoy anything from Bolt Thrower to Nails, you will find much up your strasse to like.

Words by: Richard Maw

You can pick up a copy here

For more information: