Review: “In Accordance With The Prophecy” by Gyaos:Diabolical

A homage to the 1979 John Frankenheimer monster movie Prophecy, engineered and produced by Don Fury (Agnostic Front, Sick Of It All, Quicksand), “In Accordance With The Prophecy” is the sophomore album of Austin Koll under the moniker Gyaos:Diabolical. The story goes that after spending many years playing, recording and touring as a drummer in several different bands to varying degrees of success in 2019 Koll entered the studio with a small clutch of songs of his own in hand. His dark desire to shed the need for dependency on others and instead prove to himself and the World that he could create on his own, drawing together Extremes of Thrash with elements of Black Metal, inspired by the likes of Cryptic Slaughter, Iron Regan and The Crumbsuckers. There he created the debut album “Let the Vultures Speak” and now having got the taste, he returns for more blood…

Back in 1996 Atari Teenage Riot were making their name, (who can forget “No Remorse (I Wanna Die)” for which they partnered with Slayer?) and here “Destroy 2000 Years Of Culture” gets a makeover, the digital white noise and drum machine of the original replaced by crunchy guitars and real drumming as Koll demands his pound of flesh. In a style reminiscent of early Soulfly the cut is fast and loose with the vocals savage to the point of being feral, it’s a style choice that appeals even if it feels as a cut a chorus over long. Breaking the usual trend for a guitarist with a drum machine for a solo project of this style, Koll is a multi instrumentalist in the truest sense of the word, battering seven shades of s*** out of the kit during “Fight Or Die” while giving the lister plenty of flavoursome riffs. Curiously enough there is an Industrial feel to the sound Knoll has chosen, perhaps due to the style of vocal and reliance on rhythm alone to get his message across, rather than the cold mechanical side of things. The cuts are kept short and poisonously sweet for the most part with the majority under the three minute run time, something which certainly helps the fact that there are no electronics, leads, solos, synths or ethnic instruments to augment the sound, just good old fashioned violence. Harking back to the beginnings of Crossover Thrash, “Burn The World” is an uncontrolled rant at those in seats of power who turn a blind eye to the consequences of those who destroy our planet while lining their own pockets. A blistering skull f*** of a tune, it leaves the ears bleeding after a rampage that finishes with evil laughter. Be warned, Knoll knows who you are.

There is a certain monolithic almost monotonous quality to the record that becomes apparent by the time “Beware! American Taliban!” hits with a lack of points of difference between the cuts meaning that they bleed together as one. Not necessarily an issue and more of a style choice, it happens because the riffs are reasonably similar and delivered in the same tone while Knoll’s intense vocal doesn’t escape the shrill throat grating register. Endurance is however its own reward and after a couple of spins nuances begin to shine through like chinks of light through the black clouds. Samples are buried in the mix of “Shadow is The Damned“, while a darker barked vocal is used for a couple of phrasings that the album screams out for more of. The conjoined twin of that is “False Flag Fury“, a rip roaring tsunami of a rhythmic pummelling that brings raw ideas to the table like a pocket watch, puts them in a magicians bag and hammers the s*** out of them. The bag is shaken out on the table with an evil grin, the faces of the audiences abject horror exactly what Knoll wants to see. Things roll into intriguing territory with almost melodic leads in “Against All Gods” acting as change up that cuts against the grain of the earlier material before the bleed out of the bass in “Relentless Hatestream” gives the cut some levitation. That feels like Ministry on steroids with a side order of caffeine pills, screaming out at the Hellraiser like nightmare the World finds itself in. Knoll throws his bullets in the fire then counts to five before running like hell. “Katahdin Is Risen” actually works better thanks to the addition of samples that run through it, giving it the feel of something from a low budget horror film score, rounding out the album in Rob Zombie like style [7/10]

Track Listing

1. Destroy 2000 Years of Culture (Atari Teenage Riot Cover)
2. Fight Or Die
3. Null Pointer Exception
4. Burn The World
5. Beware! American Taliban!
6. Shadow is The Damned
7. False Flag Fury
8. Against All Gods
9. Relentless Hatestream
10. Katahdin Is Risen

“In Accordance With The Prophecy” by Gyaos:Diabolical is out 13th January 2023