Label: Xtreem Music
Date: September 9th, 2020
A couple of years back, Körgull announced a break in their activities. Guitar player suffered a serious injury and had to take time to recover. The band was always pretty active, despite essentially being a side-project (at least for some of the members). Recordings and live activities happened on a regular basis, so the hiatus surely wasn’t easy to take in. However, as the press clipping suggests, band members took this time to focus on creating new material. “Sharpen Your Spikes” is what came out of it.
Fifth full length record also sees them returning to Xtreem Music, a highly proactive label from their home country. So, the Spaniards are back on the home turf and with another killer record to show for.
Körgull the Exterminator never was the band to display any virtuosity. Not with their musical skills, or their innovative creations. The formula was and is simple. Old school, straight forward, black thrashing metal. But with some style. Though they borrow the essence, they are capable of creating the riffs of their own. Same three chords all over again is not in their boiling Mediterranean blood. You can easily find Sodom, Bathory, Venom, Possessed (yes, there is a touch of death metal too), Motorhead (rock ’n’ rolling was always there)… Uncrowned kings of Teutonic black / thrash metal, Desaster, might be the closest comparison. And there are many more bands one can use to explain what is happening on “Sharpen Your Spikes”. Basically, this is old school metal, fit for every fan of the genre.
Compelling riffs are the key to Körgull’s appeal. Most of them are perfect headbangers. Held together with the drums which might seem too monotonous at times, though there are a couple of moments where they take a more significant role. Drums still serve as a backbone, most of the time switching between blast beats and thrashing rapid fires. Bass guitar also pounds in the background, supporting the rhythmical guitar barrage. Lilith’s voice still has that terrifying echoing around. The effect actually has more than just a nostalgic feel to it. With Körgull the Exterminator, the vocals do play a part of a nameless fear from the depths. Even if the lyrics are pretty down-to-Earth, with primeval, traditional, early extreme metal topics. Still, the harsh vocals fit, adding an atmospheric touch to music which is not always present (or even welcome) in such a claustrophobic genre.
Anyway, I’m glad Körgull is back. Hopefully for many more years to come. The truth is that there are not many of such old school bands which can manage an album you haven’t heard before. Even if I still prefer some of their earlier works, this is a strong outing for an act that almost reached the point of disbanding. Now it is just a matter of this virus slowing down, so we can have Körgull the Exterminator back on stage as well.
