Longtime AMG readers may remember the last time German OSDM fanatics Slaughterday graced these digital pages. It was a while back when EPs still received full review treatment, which allowed Slaughterday‘s second release, Ravenous, to earn a respectable 3.0/5.0. What surprised me was the lack of any additional coverage, despite Slaughterday having discharged three consecutive records since then – Laws of the Occult (2016), Ancient Death Triumph (2020) and Tyrants of Doom (2022). Whether that’s due to a lack of promotion or a lack of interest is irrelevant, given that I was able to fish Slaughterday‘s latest offering out of foul-smelling entrails, Dread Emperor, from the darkest depths of the drain.
For a band that has consistently produced quality death metal since forming in 2010, it’s strange to me that this dynamic duo doesn’t draw more attention. Let’s find out if Slaughterday are truly worthy of ascending the death metal throne or if this Dread Emperor stands before us with reinforcement.
Nicknamed after a track from Mental Funeral, it’s no surprise that Slaughterday ground their recording in the works of Autopsy. Avoiding being seen as mere clones, however, founders Jens Finger (guitars, bass) and Bernd Reiners (drums, vocals) also adorn their sonic quiver with arrows soaked in toxic amounts of Massacre, early Death and Grave. After a doomy, thrilling intro, Dread Emperor lands on thrashy work as “Obliteration Crusade” gallops through the gates at full speed. Presenting the range of talents Slaughterday possess, the track weaves periods of blistering speed, sexy solo work and passages of drunken, doomy Autopsy worship into a skin-stitched mosaic of death, filled with spine-chilling melody and a subtle yet earwormy chorus. Finger’s basslines burst like blood bubbles as Reiners’s savage hits reinforce the rhythm section, aptly accompanying the man’s beastly roars, a distinctly deadly composition of Peter Tägtgren and Kam Lee. This opening salvo encapsulates the Dread Emperor experience, which is an experience of gut-wrenching goodness, proving that Slaughterday have as many musical tricks up their sleeve as Art the Clown has weapons in his bag.
At the heart of Dread Emperor‘s success lies Slaughterday‘s ability to create genuinely great death metal songs. And with that talent, Finger and Reiners aptly pay tribute to their death-metal influences without slipping into derivative imitations. Whenever the groove settled into a swing full of Autopsy‘s swagger (“Subconscious Pandemonium,” “The Forsaken Ones”), my mind was powerless to stop swaying. While the grand, Egyptian-tinged melodic leads and the sprawling, doom death riffs of the title track “Dread Emperor” firmly establish themselves as the album’s highlight for you really. Dread Emperor also reinforces an aspect of Slaughterday‘s earlier efforts that was at times missing: the guitar solo. Finger leaves no one uncomfortable, filling tons of excellent, melodic solos (“Astral Carnage,” “Necrocide”) and plenty of haunting lead work (“Rapture of Rot”) into every corner of Dread Emperor. This here, boys and girls, is death metal created specifically for death metalers, so if it doesn’t bring a raised fist and a filthy face in your yard, hand in your fan card at AMG headquarters.
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From its nearly forty-minute runtime to the ominously perfect cover by Pär Olofsson, I found few flaws in Dread Emperor. I suppose if I had to pick something, I’d say that many of the faster tremolo sections tended to blend together, sharing a similarity with the larger skeletal structure of Dread Emperor, but even that is a minor complaint. It’s all mainly due to Slaughterday‘s ability to build compositions in such a way as to make the many shifts of style and tempo between songs an organic force rather than a distracting stutter. Even Slaughterday‘s version of Protector‘s “Golem” sits comfortably at the end and fits well into Dread Emperor‘s overall narrative, escaping the fate of feeling tacked on, which often happens with cover songs that close an album.
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Does Slaughterday play meat-and-potatoes death metal? Yes, but this isn’t watery soup from a can, it’s stew like grandma used to make, stuffed with steaming pieces of fresh potato and chunks of beef, swimming in a balanced broth worth killing for. I didn’t expect how much I’d enjoy Dread Emperor when I took possession of it, but it does exactly what it’s supposed to do: provoke a smile from my lips, a bang from my head and Dio‘s horns from my fist. Prime Tyme-certified death metal, ideal for rotten Valentines.
Rating : 3.5/5.0
DR : 6 | Format reviewed : 320kb/s mp3
Label : Testimony Records
Websites : Bandcamp | Releases Facebook worldwide : February 13, 2026
