Band:	Kommandant
Album:	The Draconian Archetype
Style:	Blackened death metal, Thrash metal
Release date:	April 2012
A review by:	Troy Killjoy

01. We Are The Angels Of Death
02. Victory Through Intolerance
03. Downfall
04. Hate Is Strength
05. Obsidian Gravitational
06. Fore-Aft Synthesis
07. Call Of The Void
08. The Transition
09. Atavistic Species
10. Procession Of Black

Kommandant is somewhat of a supergroup blackened death metal outfit with former members of Nachtmystium, Cianide, Krieg, and vocalist Nick Hernandez of recently formed Stone Magnum. With all that out of the way, let's get to more important matters.

Not the music - at least not yet. Because there's something about this band that separates them from just a group of guys that get together and jam for the hell of it. There's a much bigger message here and it begins all the way back with the band's alternative fashion sense: leather, gas masks, bullet-proof vests, and combat boots. So Bestial Mockery aren't the only militant-themed extreme metal band. But Kommandant focus all of their spite on the one virus that continues to plague the earth: man.

A sort of artistic reflection of self-deprecating fascist deconstruction, The Draconian Archetype injects you with its poison and wears you down slowly during a methodical 52-minute procedure that all but destroys whatever morsel of faith in humanity you had left. This is the Agent Smith to your Morpheus, and every lasting minute bleeds out every possible ounce of hope nestled deeply into the background of your mind.

Of course, on first glance you're simply looking at a Panzerchrist/Akercocke/Deströyer 666 hybrid, which in itself is definitely not a bad thing but this is a rare case where the band's aesthetic seems to play a rather important role in the overall structure, as if the foundation lies within the Nationalist irony captured perfectly by the ever-spiteful Hernandez. The music is... well, secondary: the endless assault of drums blasting and semi-adventurous riffs buzzing along interspersed with varying degrees of technicality.

Kommandant play an all-out attack style and don't give you much time to rest once they warm up the guns and start firing into your ears. If you can withstand such an assault, The Draconian Archetype may very well be a sleeper album for your personal best-to-worst chart of 2012 releases. It has a decent replay value and the level of hostility will keep you coming back to vent whenever you get bored of playing God with your house plants like the sadistic manipulative bastard you are.