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by Sebastian Kluth

Tasty - A review of Dog Slayer's Sacred Eye

Dog Slayer - Sacred Eye (2018)

What kind of band name is Dog Slayer? Does it use the old stereotype that Chinese eat dogs even though this only applies to a few select provinces in the south-east of the big country? It's hard to tell whether this band name is a joke or not but it helped the quintet get some attention.

The cover artwork is also particularly interesting. It shows an angry humanized cat with a chainsaw that seems to walk through a historic site with fallen temples and pyramids. A zombie, a snake and fire are all around the cat and a sacred eye can be seen above a pyramid which is a reference to the album title. How is this artwork related to the actual lyrics? This is also hard to figure out because even though the lyrics are in English, it's both tough to understand the vocals and to make sense of the somewhat cryptic lyrics.

One might think that the band name Dog Slayer and the brutal cover artwork represent a humorous grindcore band or maybe a particularly stereotypical death metal band or also one of the many contemporary thrash metal groups with images that are so awful that they are unintentionally comic.

The final result is however completely different. Dog Slayer plays traditional heavy metal with occasional hard rock influences that could come straight from the early eighties. The singer has a melodic and epic voice that sounds quite unique. The musicianship is solid despite the slightly muddy production. The song writing varies cleverly between more elaborate tracks around six minutes and short anthems just above three minutes. Especially the closing ''Rosebud'' is quite catchy and energetic and should work perfectly in concert.

Traditional heavy metal isn't a popular genre anymore, especially not in China and it's quite refreshing to hear five young man performing it with diversity, passion and talent. Don't get fooled by the strange band name or the weird cover artwork. If you are a fan of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, you should support the band as you can download this extended play for only four dollars. The group is worth your attention, money and time and here's hope that the Chinese quintet will come around with a full length release in the near future.

Final rating: 75%

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