Deiphago

Traveling to the Philippines, we encounter that country's most famous extreme metal band: Manila's DEIPHAGO. Like many bands from East Asia and Southeast Asia, Deiphago plays a brutal style of black metal that clearly draws on Blasphemy and Sarcofago, and can be compared to other bands from the region like Abhorer, Impiety, and Zygoatsis.

Initially forming in 1989 as Satanas, Filipino metal maniacs Voltaire 666 and Sidapa sought to create evil, dark music in the vein of classic old-school black metal bands like Venom, Sodom, Hellhammer, and Sarcofago. They didn't exist long in this incarnation before changing their name to Baalzebul and eventually Deiphago in 1990. They have since admitted in interviews that the inspiration for this name change was their admiration for Brazil's Sarcofago and American death metal band Deicide.

"Satanas" is from their untitled 1991 demo

Their output for much of the 1990s consisted of some really raw, really vile, truly evil-sounding demos. Their first demo--an untitled demo from 1991--showcases the influence of the bands listed above that inspired their formation. Their sound slowly began to evolve to a heavier, more grindcore-influenced style, and the result was a 1993 demo entitled Hail Mary Inanna. By this time, bands such as Morbid Angel, Beherit, and Impaled Nazarene had begun to shape Deiphago's sound. Such influences can be heard on the demo.

This live performance from 1993 highlights their early sound

Deiphago continued as a purely underground phenomenon for many more years. They put out a demo in 1997, but then life circumstances necessitated that they put the band on hiatus. In their own words, they "had to concentrate on [their] professions to survive." In addition to that, the Filipino society in which they lived--famous for its religiosity--was a difficult one in which to create black and death metal.

This is a re-recorded version of the title track from 2006's Rapeslay of the Virgin Mary demo

In 2004, Deiphago relocated to Costa Rica. This was the year they ended their hiatus and set to work writing new music. They released the Rapeslay of the Virgin Mary demo in 2006, followed by their first full-length album, Satanik Eon that same year. Their sound from the nineties was still intact on these releases: vile, aggressive black/death metal with harsh, growled vocals and pummeling percussion.

2009's Filipino Antichrist is an outstanding Deiphago release

Following Satanik Eon, Deiphago has released a steady stream of raw black/death albums that has helped them maintain their cult status. Never compromising their artistic vision, these Filipino metal maniacs show that brutal black metal intensity knows no boundaries.

Select Discography:

Rehearsal (demo) (1991)

Hail Mary Inanna (demo) (1993)

Demo '97 (demo) (1997)

Rapeslay of the Virgin Mary (demo) (2006)

Satanik Eon (full-length album) (2006)

Filipino Antichrist (full-length album) (2009)

XCIII 7" (2011)

Satan Alpha Omega (full-length album) (2012)

Into the Eye of Satan (full-length album) (2015)

Next time: BLACK WITCHERY