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Deicide

Till Death Do Us Part

Written by: AB on 26/06/2008 02:17:08

Deicide. In a perfect world, the mere mention of these death metal legends should inspire awe and respect. Deicide is a band that has helped forming death metal, and is one of the best selling death metal bands of all time. However, in a perfect world, Deicide would have kept the standard of their two first albums up throughout their career. Luckily, after the 10+ years with mediocre death metal releases that followed their two first excellent albums – both are rightfully considered death metal milestones – Deicide returned to form with the release of 2006\'s \"The Stench Of Redemption\", a brutal - and for Deicide strangely melodic - gem of a death metal album.

Now the world\'s most anti-Christian death metal band strikes once again. \"Till Death Do Us Part\" is the ninth studio album from this Satanic bulldozer, and my hopes were high – will this new offering follow the trend of the great Stench?

Well, yes. The sound is generally close to \"The Stench Of Redemption\", however, the leads and solos don\'t play as big a part here as they did on Stench, where the super axe work played an integral part in re-defining and improving Deicide. This doesn\'t mean Deicide can\'t work their guitars anymore, just listen to the album opener, the instrumental, almost soft (!) \"The Beginning of the End\", where cool riffing leads up to some nice solo work. Drumming is tight in the opener too.

However, after the little treat it kinda goes downhill. The riffing, which was one of Deicide\'s trademarks back in the early 1990s (and made a great return in Stench) is bland and uninteresting. The drums are just blast-beating straight ahead, no looking back, no variation. Glenn Benton\'s voice, once one of the most vile and brutal roars in death metal, sounds tired and worn. Guess he used all the good stuff on the Stench and on fellow death metallers Vital Remain\'s excellent \"Dechristianize\", an awesome album where his vocals really shone. During the first listen I thought his growls were kind of groovy, but I quickly realized the word I was looking for was repetitive.

All is not bad and sad though. Even though most of the album is \'just\' mid tempo/fast death metal, and many of the tracks seem alike, good stuff is to be found. I already mentioned the cool album opener, and when Deicide slows down a little, apparently they can get their act together – listen to the excellent \"Horror In The Halls Of Stone\", where everything seems to work out, even Benton\'s growls and the riffing. Solos are great, too.

Well, the bulldozer has grown tired. \"Till Death Do Us Part\" repeats \"The Stench Of Redemption\", just with less solos, variation, good riffing, interesting vocals, and well, basically everything that made Stench the great album it is. Instead of trying to repeat it, Deicide should have tried to build upon the sound of the good albums they have released during the years.

Download: Severed Ties, Horror In The Halls Of Stone
For The Fans Of: Cannibal Corpse
Listen: MySpace
Buy: iTunes

Release date 24.04.2008
Earache Records