One of my favorite scenes in the Jackass movies occurs when Johnny Knoxville finds himself randomly flooded by a huge tank of water from out of nowhere. Throughout 666: Satan's Soldiers Syndicate, we are given Knoxville's little experiment, except he represents death metal, and that massive flood acts like a boatload of good, hardy musicianship rushing at your face with sheer brutality. Knocking aside silly language, Desaster rightfully kicks your ass with their sixth full-length effort, as it frequently provides everything a death metal release should exercise, and then some. Case in point, our pitch-black dominator practices fierce darkness layered over a march of tanks squashing anything in its damning way, and you can bet twenty years of experience shows itself rather congenially during this all-expenses-paid trip to Satan's burning throne.
There are times when only pounding furiousness featuring sharp riffs, complex percussion, torturing growls, and blitzing solos can quench your thirst; Desaster can easily make that dream come true. The common factor equally balances these primitive attributes while acting dangerously tight, especially deciphering how heavy this CD looks on a variety of colors. Everything is pretty impressive overall, but the riffs are just fantastic, even despite not treading in original waters. I mean it's all just typical death/thrash riffs any group could easily pull out, yet each and every flick of the string appears powerful, dynamic, intelligent, and very down-to-earth. Nothing over-the-top overall; just solid death metal chaotically pulverizing your feeble ears.
Now considering this is basically a death metal release that doesn't attempt anything new, Satan's Soldiers Syndicate still works within itself from several consistencies acting like white blood cells during infections: if it looks bad, it won't come out alive. Sataniac's vocals, for instance, certainly aren't individualistic, but he does all sorts of vocal techniques (wailing, shrieking) in strange intervals quite unlike other vocalists of his niche, and just doing those simple things on occasion works flawlessly when the day ends. Desaster's sixth offering naturally has its ability to firmly pop out enjoyable death metal while avoiding dullness entirely, and there isn't a single moment of anything boring. Satan is indeed proud.
666: Satan's Soldiers Syndicate also marks nearly two decades since Desaster emerged from Lucifer's home, and with all those years gone, they can still reload fantastic instrumentation like it was nothing. This is a true-to-its-roots record that doesn't stop kicking ass. Thing is, there's absolutely no way anyone would find this remarkably original, yet Desaster can perform their basic sound by simply sucking all that sweetness away from those generic hordes looking to survive on death metal's hives, and that's the real genius overall. Don't expect a revolution, but do prepare for death metal that won't show any mercy on your paper-thin abdomen, like any extreme effort should.