There are bands that never disappointed me through the years. SLAUGHTERDAY is one of them. Over a span of nearly ten years, they released four damn fine albums and two and a half either great EPs. These releases showed us a band that stayed true to their roots in the old school of doomy and groovy Death Metal, especially in the tradition of the US bands that didn’t get that popular. But with every album, they refined their style, stretching the limits of the genre a little more. Bernd (drums and vocals) and Jens (anything with strings), the only members of the band, are extreme Metalheads to the bone, no matter what sub genre as long as it is Metal. And all these records enjoyed and lessons learned made SLAUGHTERDAY something special. After the fantastic album “Tyrants Of Doom” in 2022, things became a little quiet around the Eastfrisian duo. But late last year, they were back with a 7” EP called “Terrified” that paid tribute to early Grind Death bands like REPULSION, complete with a fitting cover artwork. Yet this EP was just a foretaste of the new album “Dread Emperor” that just got released on their new record company Testimony Records, funny enough on a Friday the 13th. And this album seamlessly continues from its predecessor. From the first notes of the instrumental intro ‘Enthroned’, SLAUGHTERDAY run the listener over with razor-sharp riffs and tons of heaviness, refined with great lead guitar work and harmonic breaks. In some moments it sounds like classic 1980s Metal in a Death Metal disguise, the next we have a deadly groove that would fit any AUTOPSY album. Add some ideas from aforementioned Grind Death forefathers (‘Astral Carnage’) and you get a great mix of all that Death Metal can offer, combined in the best SLAUGHTERDAY manner as if it is the most natural thing in the world. Asides from the already mentioned ‘Astral Carnage’, we have the fantastic ‘Rapture Of Rot’, the title track and the dark ‘Dethroned’ that I can point out as the highlights of a great album. And before I forget: SLAUGHTERDAY continued their tradition of recording tasty cover tunes of songs that usually will never get covered. This time, they chose ‘Golem’, originally by the always underrated German Thrash band PROTECTOR, and they slaughter(day)ed this one damn fine. So, to sum it up: if you already know and like SLAUGHTERDAY, “Dread Emperor” will definitely please you, if you love Death Metal but don’t know the band yet, this would be a great start to discover a new favourite band. For more info visit www.facebook.com/slaughterdayofficial or www.facebook.com/testimonyrecords