siLLy puPPy AUKTOKRATOR caught the extreme metal world’s attention with its first two albums but didn’t exactly bring heaps of unanimous praise. One of the so-called caverncore death metal bands that followed in the footsteps of 90s bands like Immolation and Incantation with the modern reverb-drenched distortion of bands like Portal, Grave Upheaval and Mitochondrion, this French band entered the bizarre world of surreal blackened wind tunnel death metal which is not appreciated unanimously! With droning hornet swarming distortion that oscillated in and out of tune, the band’s first two albums featured a too-hard-to-swallow approach for many old school death metal fans but were celebrated by the more extreme underground metal heads for its uncompromising evil as fuck stylistic approach.

After four years and two albums of dabbling in this experimental sub-section of death metal, AUTOKRATOR showcased a stylistic shift on its third album HAMMER OF THE HERETICS which retained the blitzkrieg barrage of guitar / bass rampaging and tech drumming prowess but moved on from the incessant hypnotic droning effect with more variations of melodic riffing and an expanded menu of percussive assiduousness courtesy of the prolific metal drummer Kévin Paradis whose stylistic approach seemed custom made for this explosive branch of the death metal universe. The band had more time to take the AUTOKRATOR sound to new levels of confidence and the results indicated a much more sophisticated album without sacrificing the brutality or bleakness of the previous works.

HAMMER OF THE HERETICS is another concept album this time based on the French Inquisition which was inspired by the band’s Occitania history of the Templar Knights and infamous episodes of Catholic church overreach which started in the 12th-century Kingdom of France. The lyrics while like most death metal are unintelligible but presumably narrate the tales of this dreadful period of European history. The sole exception is the track “Le Sang Impur” which features lyrics form the French anthem “La Marseillaise” written by Calude Joseph Rouget de Lisle. Given the subject matter shift, this third installment of the AUTOKRATOR canon does not feature those Roman Empire themes and therefore stays clear of the incessant military march drum rolls of the first two albums however they can still be encountered especially on the frenetic closer “Inquisitio-Denunciatio-Exceptio.”

With the debut of drummer Kévin Paradis whose resume includes a multitude of extreme metal bands such as Agressor, Benighted, Dead Talking Mind, DeadlySins, Gorsed Noctis, Mithridatic, Serocs, The Seven Gates and Svart Crown, AUTOKRATOR entered a new chapter of its existence which allowed the established caverncore sounds to become more versatile in its subtle navigation through the chaosphere without losing the hardcore brutality and dungeony doom effects that the band had made its own. While the opening track “Against Flesh and Blood” may on the surface sound like AUTOKRATOR on auto pilot, the advancements make themselves clearly understood as the track progresses with a wider range of chord progressions in the riffing process and a greater involvement of the atmospheric backdrop as a musical element rather than just a mood generator. Add to that an expanded percussive drive that given Paradis’ notoriety in the metal world got AUTOKRATOR noticed.

While production was ramped up on “The Obedience to Authority,” on HAMMER OF THE HERETICS it becomes even more nuanced and used to create those seamless slides from different modes of operation. The swarms of angry hornet guitar distortion are tamed into moments of contrast while non-caverncore death metal riffing is allowed to get on stage and strut its badass shit. The result of these expanded modifications allows the album to become even more diverse and covers a wider range of sonic attacks however in the process loses some of the evil as fuck cavernous dungeon finesse. All in all this is yet another excellent discovery in the AUTOKRATOR extreme metal factory and although this is the point of where many find the band hitting its stride, i have to say that i am one of those that actually loves the otherworldly effects of the first two albums however i cannot deny that the band needed to move on as not to become stale and in that regard HAMMER OF THE HERETICS finds the band taking things to the next level in a most admirable way.

siLLy puPPy Riding in the wake of its terrifying blackened death metal debut AUTOKRATOR returned the following year with another unrelenting release of caverncore also known as wind tunnel death metal only this time around exchanged a few members leaving only guitarist / bassist Loïc Fontaine and Spawn of Satan vocalist David Bailey as the original members but lo and behold these two members are the key to holding the secrets of AUTOKRATOR’s multiverse approach to crafting an extreme form of death metal so freaky and drenched in noise that for those who loved the debut will find an excellent sophomore followup.

Slightly longer with a playing time of just over 36 minutes, THE OBEDIENCE TO AUTHORITY continues true anarchy in sonic form with references to Ancient Rome and apparently recorded in hell’s sewer system located in some underground cavernous region of the world. With eight tracks each constituting a chapter of this saga of noise and defiant oppression, AUTOKRATOR continues its unique stylistic approach that uses a variety of percussive patterns ranging from military procession marches to unhinged speed of light blitzkrieg blastbeat bombast. Add to that the swarm of hornets buzzfest of pure reverb-drenched distortion oscillating in and out of tune like some of the skankiest lo-fi black metal has to offer.

Of course what really makes AUTOKRATOR stand out are the cursed demonic blackened death metal vocal deliveries of Bailey who truly sounds like he is possessed and summoning the blackened army to attack! More than just gurgling or guttural growls, his vocal style covers an interesting spectrum while remaining in true hellish form. While the whole thing is a bit suffocating with an incessant assault of the senses, the tracks are broken up into the most depressive moments of atmospheric ambience that prognosticate the rampaging storm to come and come it does with the force of a category 5 hurricane ripping the life-force from everything it consumes as souls fling into oblivion forever! Ah hahahahaha!

I guess there’s a tale being told here but as with most death metal, the lyrics are unintelligible which allows your imagine to run wild. There are a few moments of spoken word segments such as the intermission moment of “Chapter VI” which allows a bit of industrial electronic effects to be the suffocating element of choice while some oppressive history lesson is recited in the French language. “Chapter VII” jumps straight back into chaotic aggression with the now well established mix of military march drumming sequences, blackened death metal growls and the apocalyptic swarming effect of guitar and bass reverb distortion on steroids. Watch out Portal, Grave Upheaval and Mitochondrion, you ain’t the only caverncore junkies out there!

While pretty much a continuation of the 2014 eponymously titled debut, THE OBEDIENCE TO AUTHORITY offers a bit more zing in the production department and that’s not to say that it is more commercial in any way, shape or form. On the contrary, the production has been utilized to make an even more brutal and frightening complex of distortion, dark atmospheric dread and heaviness only designed to bring the world of cruelty into a more clear sonic representation. Once again AUTOKRATOR delivers a truly uncompromising brutal assault while eschewing the all too common pitfall of becoming a dreary monotonous one-trick pony. True that this shit is reserved for the most extreme audiophiles out there and this caverncore truly makes old school death metal sound quite tame in comparison but for those of us who really love this ruthless assault of extremity on every level possible, i have to say that AUTOKRATOR is a master of delivering the goods.

siLLy puPPy Caverncore is a term that has popped up in the last several years and refers to the reverb-drenched evil as fuck sound that comes from playing death metal in what sounds like an echo chamber. Portal first popularized this death metal curveball as far back as 2007 with its opus “Outre” but the style has its roots in the murky twisted death metal made popular by bands like Incantation and Immolation in the 1990s. In recent years bands like Grave Upheaval have taken this droning cesspool of noise decorated with death and doom to its seeming conclusion but this style of death metal is far from a fad and continues to attract new followers.

The Marseille based AUTOKRATOR is one such act that has latched onto the extremities of the caverncore section of the death metal world and gone totally batshit crazy. The moniker alone literally defines someone as a self-ruler and unrestrained by superiors. So too does that apply to the confines of musical expectations and in the process AUTOKRATOR which was founded in 2014 in Paris has continued to craft some of the noisiest and filthiest mix of death metal drenched with drones, industrial blackened bleakness and dark ambient sludge. The results equate to a true terrifying display of a death metal band gone mad and one that proudly sits in the same sonic stench as Portal, Antediluvian, Teitonblood and guitarist / bassist Loïc Fontaine’s other band NKVD.

To date AUTOKRATOR has released four noise fueled albums which all began with this eponymously titled 2015 release. This is a noisy monstrous beast indeed and ticks off all the suffocating qualities of what has been tagged caverncore or wind tunnel death metal. Owing as much to the world of lo-fi black metal as the death metal universe, this collection of eight ominous tracks takes you on a 34 minute journey into the world of sonic terror with death metal riffing being replaced by waves of oscillating feedback like a swarm of angry hornet demons descending on your very soul. The album actually conveys a theme of ancient Rome with the fourth track / act aptly titled “Autokrator” showcasing a war march percussive drive and spoken word declaration in Latin. The war march percussive drive is a theme oft revisited in AUTOKRATOR’s canon.

While blackened caverncore death metal could very easily become a stale one-trick pony, AUTOKRATOR finds subtle yet frightening ways to keep the stale card from being played. With just enough variation between amorphous feedback noise and bonafide death metal chord riffing along with various drumming gymnastics that range from war marches to blastbeats, AUTOKRATOR delivers a noisy yet competent diverse effect that while challenges the listener’s expectations, takes things into the deepest recesses of hell. One of the coolest aspects of AUTOKRATOR are the hellish vocals that sound like the spawn of Satan himself is coming to life through this bizarre and twisted noise ritual that summons the very recesses of the underworld and nurtures them into our 3D construct.

This is amongst the most extreme style of blackened death metal there is and for those who are averse to spawn of Satan styled vocals thrashing around in a pool of reverb-fueled distortion then it’s safe to say that this isn’t for you. This is like a sonic swirl of noise that in its gyrating effect crafts a strange gravitational pull that takes you into a bizarre unthinkable realm of chaos magic revealed in sonic form. It’s really hard to describe this but it’s basically rhythmic percussive hyper speed percussive drive engulfed by a chaotic explosive effect of distortion that finds eerie ambient effects and beastly samples inserted between outbursts. Personally i love this twisted shit and this AUTOKRATOR debut with its no compromise fuck it all approach has found away to allow just enough rhythmic patterns to latch onto while pummeling your soul with sheer terror. Awesome!

siLLy puPPy The French death metal band AUTOKRATOR evolved significantly from its caverncore origins of its first two albums to 2018’s “Hammer of Heretics” which found the addition of madman percussionist Kévin Paradis joining ranks which took the brainchild of guitarist / bassist Loïc Fontaine out of the reverb drenched underworld into the more accepted parameters of death metal which resulted in an explosive diversification that allowed the band to catch the attention of the underground world of extreme metal. It’s been three long years since AUTOKRATOR squirmed its way out of the sludgy abyss but once again these Frenchies based in Marseille have unleashed the fourth installment of earache central with its head banging bombast in the form of PERSECUTION.

It’s utterly amazing how much this band has changed since its 2014 eponymously titled debut which was in the world of the blackened death caverncore of Portal and Mitocondrion. PERSECUTION finds AUTOKRATOR continuing its Roman Empire themes complete with the military march percussive themes that have graced each release since the beginning but this band has always found a way to keep the albums just a bit different from the next and PERSECUTION is by no means the exception to this rule. Sounding more like a “traditional” death metal band, album #4 continues the AUTOKRATOR playbook only with more emphasis on the world of old school death metal styles that have cross-pollinated with the thematic approach of the entire AUTOKRATOR theme diary.

Still steeped in an eerie and evil as fuck sound that mixes classic blackened death metal with the raging angst of war metal and residual traces of the caverncore Portal influences, PERSECUTION offers a fine roster of six tracks steeped in death metal glory replete with rampaging riffs, bombastic bass parts that are now more easily distinguished from hornet buzz swarming effects of the past along with Paradis’ professional percussive prowess in full regalia. Distorted guitar riffs still rule the roost but the superior production value of these more modern releases guarantee that the muddy mixes of the past offer a clearer separation of elements that constitute the more “traditional” death metal sounds on board. Even David Bailey’s vox box style is more in the classic old school guttural growl camp having jettisoned a lot of the blackened raspiness of yore.

PERSECUTION showcases AUTOKRATOR crafting more sophisticated composiitons with some like the near 10-minute dissonant powerhouse “Antechristus” taking on some progressive tendencies with jangly guitar chords that bring Deathspell Omega to mind. The pace of the album is fairly frenetic as always but there are a lot more varying attributes to be heard this time around without getting too overly experimental (which isn’t a bad thing but does require more bandwidth for the casual listener.) With the bombastic brashness of the opener “De Gloria Martyrum Et Confessorum” to the infectious immediacy of the spoken word in Laitin closing speech of “Apocalypsis,” PERSECUTOR offers a journey through the brutal yet poignant leitmotifs of ancient Rome’s Flavian dynasty which excelled in various forms of religious PERSECUTION.

The themes are perfectly matched with the excellent musical accompaniments with the most distinct occurring with the fifth track “Caesar Nerva Traianus” which features the now classic AUTOKRATOR-ism of Roman military marches. In fact i can confidently say that AUTOKRATOR is to Roman history as Nile is to Egyptian styled death metal. All in all, AUTOKRATOR has more than succeeded in crafting an interesting unique nook in the world of death metal. Despite having stood out in the murky world of caverncore, AUTOKRATOR has done a stellar job in retaining that which made it unique in the first place and applying those same attributes to a more all-encompassing style of the greater death metal universe. Perhaps not quite as OMG brilliant as Nile in incorporating ancient themes due to the fact there are not unique musical scales that permeate, i still find AUTOKRATOR to resonate quite well in that unique niche of nerdy history professor nook of hyperactive extreme metal freakery. Another excellent album from this Mediterranean sensation!