Year of release: 2019
Label: Hells Headbangers Records
Rating: 8 / 10
Oh, my. I'm already used to the fact that my assumptions that arise after the publication of promotional tracks for new albums often turn out to be wrong, and in reality everything turns out much better. But not in the case of DEIPHAGO.
I often repeat that, until the bigger fish is found, DEIPHAGO will remain for me the apotheosis of musical extremism in metal. Their albums are the line beyond which music turns into noise. Previous albums, but not the new one. “I, The Devil” is too ... musical. Of course, it looks great against the background of other albums of the same kind, since the group managed to maintain its own sound style, and partially compensate for the lack of aggression with unusual creative solutions - for example, the completely unique atmosphere of the title track created with the help of an interestingly tuned electric guitar and bass. But does DEIPHAGO really need all that? I doubt it. DEIPHAGO is a group that you listen to when you want to know how the mad on blood savage feels like, when he is killing his enemies with a heavy, clumsy cudgel, raping their women, and shitting into their split skulls. This requires only tiny glimpses of the mind, drowning in a sea of rabies, but helping not to go beyond the edge, not to kill yourself. “I, The Devil” offers significantly more cold-blooded and smart metal with structures and that unnecessary shit. And there is a surprisingly high-quality sound. The leader of the band whose sayings you can read on the album page on Bandcamp, tries to scare us with sayings about the unbelievable extremity of an album, about the intolerable cacophony, about the incomprehensibility of it's music for a normal listener ... and all this is not true, although his words very accurately describe the old full-lengths.
But the phrase about the spirit of the early 90s, when all the Black Metal bands tried to sound their own way, is true. Again, in fact, “I, The Devil” is really cool and very peculiar. This is an excellent album if you are not familiar with the band; unlike the previous ones, it is unlikely will make you run away. However, the lion's share of the trademark bloody mandess is lost. And it is sad. But I'm buying the CD anyway, and I recommend you to do the same.
English (UK) 
Крыўская