Goddess of Death

I ordered this comp from Necroharmonic a while back on a whim, having only heard the name but never actually having heard Derketa and excited at the idea of a female death metal band, from the late ‘80s/early ‘90s, no less. However, this didn’t turn out to be the great discovery I had hoped I’d stumbled into.

I pop in Goddess of Death every once in a while to see if maybe I’ll hear something I've been missing, but it never happens. Derketa essentially does one thing: play okay, mid-paced riffs. Goddess of Death is lacking and leaves you wanting something more. In fact, every single song has the effect of leaving me wanting something more that was not there. Then the next song starts and I feel the same way about it.

The songs aren’t dark, evil, demented, or particularly evocative in any way. The riffs are okay – not great, not talentless, but okay. There are a few pretty good riffs and parts here and there, but that unsettling death metal atmosphere is generally missing. If you listen to death metal, you already know the atmosphere I’m talking about. It’s that Slowly We Rot twisted, eerie feeling you want from an album that is pretty much the greatest thing music (or mankind in general) has to offer. Derketa achieves it a couple of times throughout these songs, but for the most part sound flat, nonthreatening, and even a little bored.

Goddess of Death sounds more like a death metal band got together to jam a few riffs they came up with. I realize some of the songs actually are rehearsals but that’s not the point. It’s not the sound of a death metal album. This legitimately sounds like death-metallified garage rock, and I’m not talking about the sound quality. It’s too easy.

I’ll also add this: even if their very mid-paced, repetitive sound is just their “style,” it falls under the umbrella of death metal, and I’m a long-time deathead (as well as all-knowing but that’s a given). I didn’t go into this expecting Here in After and was disappointed that it wasn’t. Goddess of Death is just unimpressive, background music death metal. I think a little more variation in song structure, switching up the pace a bit more, and even a few solos could have gone a long way to give this a darker and more menacing feel because playing a few okay riffs over and over might make death metal, but that’s not all it takes to make good death metal that you want to listen to over and over again and recommend to everyone you know including the neighbor's dog.

It’s okay; good but not great; an album I never get a hankering to play nor do I feel like I get anything out of it after I do. I think Derketa is more historically significant than musically. I wouldn’t recommend anyone run out and buy this comp ASAP, but it might be worth checking out if you’re interested in hearing some new old death metal knowing it really won’t blow you away.

Hello, it's "review of band-extremely-important-to-Jelin" time! And actually, Derkéta is important to the metal scene as a whole.They're a band that, even if it's not my favorite, I've known about for quite some time, probably one of the few death metal bands I really like, but so much more… The one first all female death and doom band, and, I've realized this lately, an influence to many of the bands I listen to.

So, undeniably, Derkéta is very important historically, especially for me. But even expecting this, they're a very interesting band too. Derkéta is pure old school death metal bordering on doom metal, with bad production and extremely morbid and negative lyrics. When you think of that death metal sound, you think of Derkéta. These "goddesses of death" play slow, but very obviously evil riffs, while singing about being trapped in hell, meeting monsters that kill or eat you and even being buried alive. With an extreme simplicity, they manage perfectly to take you into their dark world.

The music is very simple, only short riffs and only a little keyboard intro on "Crypts of Darkness". The vocals are not the deepest gurgling growls possible, but resemble more the idea of scary whispers taken one step further. You could easily growl along to "Crypts of Darkness", and many vocalists I listen do sound a lot like that. However, when she sounds lower on "Premature Burial" and "Your Rotting Flesh" (and look at these titles), it's really scary. The lyrics aren't meant to be very complex, they're just, as described by vocalist Sharon Bascovsky, stuff that sounded creepy. They are there to transmit this particular atmosphere. It's desolated and sinister, as if it came from a dark crypt. The simplicity participates in creating the bleakness of Derkéta's universe. There is nothing but death here, and you can easily believe it.

Derkéta are really good at playing the darkest metal imaginable. This record, even if it's just a compilation, is worthy of being considered a classic of death/doom. I'd recommend it to anyone who likes those genres, and dark music in general. If you're looking for the doomiest band of all doom metal, it's the one.