A weapon used to kill Godzilla in the original 1954 movie, Northwest-based unit Oxygen Destroyer has one of the coolest names in the metal realm as of late. Makes sense that the band would also use film samples to accentuate the musical proceedings – which is what you have on their third album Guardian of the Universe. The quartet delivers a sound that is furious, often bordering on the edge of falling off the cliff, yet encapsulates the best elements of thrash, death, and even black metal to create this sonic amalgamation that’s easy for any underground maven to appreciate.
Aspects of older Morbid Angel, Demolition Hammer, Vader, and Morbid Saint come into focus when you hear the furious riffs, relentless tempos, and blackened screams that are mainstays within these nine tracks. “Drawing Power from the Empathetic Priestess” weaves so much intensity and blitzkrieg break activities in its 1:43 timeframe, while a longer, five-minute cut like “Awaking the Malevolent Destroyer of the Heavens and Earth” pummels in an opposite manner, the tremolo runs or tribal double kick into methodical mid-tempo churning madness as the Kaiju film samples further broaden the mythical battles brought to reality. Subscribing to the wordy title phenomena that Nile embraced throughout their career (personal favorite of this album being closer “Exterminating the Ravenous Horde of Perpetual Darkness and Annihilation”), these musicians understand that you can accelerate in altered dimensions to create this heightened sense of intensity. Check out “Thy Name Is Legion” as guitarist Lord Kaiju uses a rhythmic, rabid method to his precise growls and blackened high velocity screams to mirror the fast nature of the verses, while the instrumental section brings the proceedings to a relatively normal pit-friendly thrash pace, the lead break frantic in a Slayer-esque free for all volley of notes. Everything from the tones to production values has this tremendous in your face quality that’s clear without being dragged into a digitally compressed grid that cuts off any frequency variation – expending all its energy in the proper places for a vinyl-friendly 33 minutes.
Now with a decade under their collective belts, Oxygen Destroyer appears poised to just keep the pedal full throttle on a brand of blackened thrash/death that serves notice that the Northwest US scene has plenty of creative musicians ready to assault listeners with some savage material. Guardian of the Universe is a classic example of the ultimate power of this genre in capable minds, executed to the best of abilities.