Death is June - Deicide's "Stench of Redemption"

 

The Cannibal Corpse parallels are going to get more obvious as guitar Jack Owen joined the band. The guitars are maginally more technical here, and the vocals are thankfully more layered and demonic. I love Cannibal Corpse, I just never wanted Deicide to become them. Ralph Santolla from Iced Earth is also on board, so the solos are more majestic and there is less chaos barrelling at you. Perhaps this might sound like refinement. It's alright for what this song is, but I want to hear more Deicide-sounding stuff on this album. 

The hyper blasting is at least their aggression, though the harmony solos counterbalance this in a way that does not sound like what this band was for the first seven albums. The lower main vocal feels more obligatory roaring than the higher demon voices. However, what the band is now capable of can be heard on "Desecration," which is more layered and melodic at first, but gives them room to kick into the angry grinding of the guitar. It's a great blend of savagery with musical smarts that works for them. This is what I expect going forward. Now, having said that, I am prepared for disappointment. 

What they bring instead is rapid-fire blasting. In some ways, they were having to keep up with the Joneses as the definition of heavy began to shift. The elements that worked for the previous song are not in play in the same effective manner, so this one feels like hyper-fast filler.  The thrashier riff that drives " Walk With the Devil In Dreams You Behold" works, then reversing the old formula of blasting til the vocals come in, then slowing down to create space for them. Instead, here they do the opposite. When I consider where music was at this time twenty years ago, it makes sense. It also feels like they are getting a little carried away with the solos. 

"Homage For Satan' has more of a Slayer feel, until it blasts off. Rather than slow down, they go faster. If you want their fastest album, this might be it. The vocals are pretty sick-sounding on it, just rushed on the verses. "Not of this Earth" is like a more blast-beaten Slayer. The verse it pretty pummeling, which works for me. "Never to Be Seen Again" finds Steven saying that the previous song was not fast enough for him and burning the rose pipe. Glen is going for lower thraot scraping gutturals for sure. There is more of a Slayer feel to " The Lord's Sedition' which is the most melodic playing I have heard from the band ever, reminds me of the song "Seasons in the Abyss". It makes it ok for the onslaught that comes midway into the song. We have dynamic contrast blast away. 

Oddly, the clsoe the album closes with a cover of Deep Purple's "Black Night" with Benton-approved lyrics. It is also blasted up to their standards. Unless you knew going into it you might not tell it's the same song. I will give this album a 9, as they redeem themselves musically, despite redemption being a concept that does not gel with what they are about or me either, but the word worked in that sentence, so there you go. 

pst242