Release Date October 30th, 2026
Format Vinyl/CD/Cassette/Digital
Genre Industrial Death Metal
Origin Australia
The Berzerker emerged in Melbourne in 1995 from Luke Kenny’s collision of extreme metal and electronic noise, developing into one of Australia’s most ferocious industrial death metal bands. Anonymous masks, computer speed percussion, scorched guitar work and guttural vocals made the band instantly identifiable during its run with Earache. “The Berzerker” introduced the method in 2000, “Dissimulate” tightened the attack two years later, and “World Of Lies” and “Animosity” expanded its mechanical violence through the middle of the decade. The live incarnation turned programmed extremity into a physical barrage, separating The Berzerker from the standard death metal acts surrounding it at the time. After four albums with Earache, the band issued its fifth album, “The Reawakening”, independently in 2008.
The release disappeared from legitimate circulation soon afterward, leaving physical copies scarce and digital files passed through underground channels. Its absence created a cult item, although the music matters more than the mythology built around its disappearance. The current lineup brings Kenny together with Sam Bean, Matt Wilcock and Todd Hansen, combining vocals,
programming, guitars, bass and drums. Apocalyptic Witchcraft now returns the album to splatter vinyl, digipak CD, cassette and digital platforms, placing an overlooked chapter of Australian extremity back in circulation ahead of the band’s appearance at Damnation Festival in Manchester.
“The Reawakening” comes from an era when programming could bury guitars beneath layers of digital percussion; this mix lets riffs, kick drums and electronics collide in equal measure. The production is clipped, overloaded and mechanical, with a low end that turns every blast into blunt impact and vocals processed into an inhuman roar that trades intelligibility for impact.
“Wisdom And Corruption” establishes the central attack through rapid tremolo work and programmed drums moving beyond humane speed, as “Disassembly Line” breaks that velocity with lurching rhythmic changes. Across the album, the lyrics circle corruption, mechanized violence, human failure and extinction, using bleak imagery stripped of abstract language.
The guitar parts remain precise amid the electronic barrage, and Todd Hansen’s drumming brings physical motion to music often associated with machines; the faster sections gain a human pulse beneath the triggers. Several songs run so close in tempo, texture and vocal pattern that individual details merge; the closing stretch can register as one prolonged rush with too little contrast, especially when the vocal cadence barely changes.
The mix also reflects its 2008 origin: cymbals turn brittle at peak intensity, triggers dominate the drums, and the compressed surface reduces some riffs to texture, trapping finer guitar details beneath percussion. This reissue exposes an album that deserved wider circulation: the speed remains savage and the rhythmic turns stay warped; the narrow sonic range and limited contrast place it below the band’s most focused work.
|7.0
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