Outergods – Dethroned & Devoured (Review)

This is the second album from UK extreme metallers Outergods.

Outergods play a hybrid style that mixes black, death, and grind influences into a 45-minute record of brutal intensity. The band’s Bandcamp page recommends this for At The Gates, Anaal Nathrakh, Morbid Angel, Hate Eternal, and Strapping Young Lad, which should give you a good starting point for Dethroned & Devoured.

Dethroned & Devoured presents as a sort of hybrid-style blackened death metal, laced with industrial poisons, driven by grinding fury, yet also surprisingly sophisticated in execution and breadth.

The songs are well-crafted, showcasing a band that are willing to look beyond pure ferocity, despite ultimately being powered by it. Across Dethroned & Devoured Outergods take the time to explore their sonic extremity, offering up effective worldbuilding and atmospheric weight alongside the fierce aggression. The music and the variety of influences that have gone into this work allow the band the scope they need to deliver a range of feelings and moods throughout the record. The songs might all ultimately be dark and hostile, but they’ve textured and nuanced within this.

Outergods grind and burn with the best of them. Some parts of the songs are absolutely devastating, with the band focusing their brutal assault into a battering ram of remorseless punishment. At other times they attack with surgical precision, going for the throat with a blackened envenomed blade that cuts deep. Outergods are lethal, and they know it. They also know when to pull back though, and instead let their progressive mood-based side shine. There are entire sections on Dethroned & Devoured where the band spend their time less on destroying the listener through superior force, and more on building and sustaining the sort of menacing atmospheres that wear them down over time. This approach really elevates the material above the average.

Industrial layers, understand synths, and blackened melodies all enrich the core savagery that sits at the heart of Dethroned & Devoured. Frequently the band fetter this rage, wisely, channelling it into a creative darkness that’s near-tangible. But of course, it can’t be restrained for long, and when it’s free, it is vicious. This is a record of controlled chaos, only when the spiked iron gloves truly come off the chaos is fully unleashed.

All of this, and more, the band coalesce into their vision for extreme metal. Dethroned & Devoured manages to rise above merely being an exercise in brutality, and instead builds upon an aggressive foundation immersive soundscapes that engage as they devastate. Outergods know that there is more than one way to obliterate a target.

The quality displayed across Dethroned & Devoured took me by surprise. This is a much more multifaceted and impactful album than I was expecting. Throw in a couple of guests from Frontierer and Mnemic, and you have a very well-rounded, well-executed slice of extreme metal. Outergods have impressed.

Very highly recommended.