Destroyer 666

T

he band Destroyer 666 was formed by guitarist Keith (a.k.a. K.K. Warslut) following his departure from black metal act, Bestial Warlust (also formerly of Ex-Corpse Molestation) in 1994 to assume the role as one of the developers of the so-called Australian War Metal sub-genre. With the assistance of Abominator's drummer Chris Volcano standing in on drums they recorded the Six Songs With The Devil demo four months later. The debut proper came one year later. That debut, Violence is the Prince of this World (1995), was essentially recorded as a one-man band with session support by Bullet-Eater (Ex-Hobb's Angelk Of Death) and Matt 'Skitz' Sanders (of Damaged); a proper band of K.K. Warslut (vocals/guitar), Shrapnel (guitar), now full-time member Bullet Eater (a.k.a. Phil Venom; Real Name: Philip Gresik; ex-Bestial Warlust; bass) and Ballistic Howitzer (drums) recruited for the later albums.

The follow-up, Unchain the Wolves (1997), saw the full band proper in force, but it would be Pheonix Rising (2000; with Deceiver taking over from Howitzer and S. Beserk on bass after the release) that received critical acclaim for being their most developed but also fully expressing their old-school black metal influences with Death and thrash metal thrown in for good measure. Although not considered the most original band out there they were nevertheless making their point by even avoiding the corpse paint look to assume a basic thrash metal leather/spikes/studs look. The album Cold Steel ... for an Iron Age (2002) with Mersus taking over from de Windt who had taken over from Deceiver, and the mini-CD, Terror Abraxas (2003), continued with their extreme heavy metal style.