When I saw the name of Angels of Death E9 I knew we were at the epic bloody climax of this season, and Slaughter did not disappoint. This episode was absolutely brimming with awesome.
In Slaughter, Hadrael the techmarine goes to war with Ignius the dreadnaught by his side to try and free The Sword of Baal. Ignius is everything you’d want from a dreadnaught, with the walking tank mowing down the endless tide of Tyranid enemies in brutal and unrelenting fashion.
In the void above, the bridge crew on The Sword of Baal valiantly prepare for the end, pistols drawn, and bloodied and beaten crew preparing to destroy their ship to stop the Tyranid horde from taking it. I like they way the story and animation team spent time with the crew to depict this moment. In the end, it’s easy to showcase the space marines in all their bloody, post0human glory. It’s far harder to depict the people with just a uniform and their courage standing in the way of certain death.
On the ground (well, in the orbital tower) Orpheo and his remaining Blood Angels prepare to breach the inner sanctum while the Tyranid Patriarch awaits them inside. A collision of human flesh and chitinous alien bone armour is about to happen in epic proportions.
This episode is an overall good watch, bringing together most of the storylines we’ve been following for the last eight episodes. We get what feels like an enjoyable closure to the battle and arc of the characters, with one nice sleight of hand twist at the end.
Unfortunately some of the action seems a bit rushed, especially that against the Patriarch, which just didn’t look as good as some of the other battle scenes. Once again, the poor choice of sound effects stick out and robbed one scene in particular of enjoyment. It was somewhat made up for by the epic dreadnaught wading into battle, and by the eruption of the black rage once more, though.
Overall, Slaughter was a fun episode and I am so pumped to see the 10th and final episode. I will definitely have some thoughts on the wrapping up of the first full season on WarhammerTV, so stay tuned for more.
Watch Angels of Death E9: Slaughter
