Death is June - Deicide's "Deicide"

 

Last year, I tackled reviewing the entire discography of Cannibal Corpse; this year, I am going through Deicide's catalog. They are a band whose name does not get brough up as much as needed when talking about the early days of extreme metal and the influence they had, as this album was more bludgeoning and extreme than where Morbid Angel was at, so let's see how these albums have held up over the test of time. The opening track "Lunatic of God's Creatioin" benefits from the element of surprise and the gritty rumble of the bass tone that is locked in with the drums to create a heavier feel than what was out at the time. At under three minutes, it's a powerful jab to your eardrums. The song is actually about Charles Manson, even though they were supposed to be a Satanic death metal band; they branch out into various serial killers and mass murderers, along with horror movies, not making them as far removed from the pack as perceived back in the day.

"Sacrificial Suicide" is more thrashing than the opening track, and with that comes a hookier interplay of the vocals with the riff. "Oblivious to Evil" finds the taunt razor-edged riffing slicing at you. The lyrics are not as articulated as well on this album, so the vocals just ride the guitars."Dead Bt Dawn's highlights how the double-tracked vocal approach helped to set these guys apart and create a more demonic sound that black metal bands to come would take notes from. The "Evil Dead" theme worked for what they were doing at the time. When it comes to coming up with a title like "Blaspherereion" teenage me thought it was cool, but looking back, it's kind of silly and amounts to heavy metal poppycock to any serious Satanist or occultist. The song is a rabid speed fest, with catchier vocals than most bands that fail at this sort of thing. 

"Mephistopheles" is another blazing fast song that finds them accelerating to the point that it is too fast for its own good, as it makes the song less memorable than some of the more purposeful moments on this album. 

For all the silly moments, there are songs like the eponymous title track that are absolute timeless death metal classics and make it worthwhile. Lyrics aside, it all works perfectly, with impressive vocal intensity and blinding drum work. The homage to Jim Jones, "Carnage in the Temple of the Damned" is thrashier and benefits from the purposeful vocals locking in on the chorus. The same can almost be said of "Day of Darkness' though this one is maringally more deliberate, which was enough to not make it a fast-forward classic. While the lyrics to "Crucifixation" are dumb, the song is pretty classic, with a Slayer-like chaos coming from the guitars. The album's strongest songs balance out the silliniess and speed obsessed sloppiness of some songs, making this worth rating a 10, as it broke new ground for the extreme metal should be willinging to go.  I also have to take into consideration the impact it had on me when I heard this album as a teenager.

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Modest Mouse : "An Eraser and a Maze"

 Isaac Brock is the sole original member of this band, who is plugging away on its 8th album. This was originally written to be for his solo project, Ugly Casanova, but he fleshed it out into his band with more name recognition. The style of quirky indie rock has not changed a great deal since "Good News For People Who Love Bad News," though the second song, "Remember Yourself," has a folky, organic introspection. This is the band's first album back on an indie label, which might seem like a step down, but it also comes with more artistic freedom and fewer suits breathing down their neck. Brock loosens his belt and lays back into a 60's flavored groove for "Life's a Dream." His voice feels warmer, as it relaxes against the flowing layers of sound dripping down from behind him. 

For me, their best album is "The Moon & Antarctica." That was a much darker affair with speculative lyrics about aliens; here, trippy elements are painting the walls, but they are playfully grooving. You would think a song called "Third Side of the Moon" would take you back to that place, and it is a marginal turn in that direction, but a glimpse at least. There is a strum of Brock's brand of quirky folk with a twang on "Dogbed in Heaven." This song is connected to "Give it a Skeleton," which is an intersting puzzle of a song lyrically, though musically it sounds like it's left over from the 90s. There are other songs like "Speak n Spell" that also feel like they have taken parts that sound like they should belong in a Modest Mouse song, but forgot how they should fit together. 

They do hit the mark solidly, taking the band's sound and marrying it with new sounds that blend well, like "I Can't Talk Right Now" and "Rotten Fruit," which is a collaboration with indie pop producer Justin Raisen, who has also worked with Charli XCX.He is not the only one bringing the modern pop touches to this album as the band willingly breaks out hooky grooves on "Absolutley Necessary Never," which works well and would have been a more interesting direction to see the band go in.  The album is also littered with instrumental interludes. Though they prove they can make the most of two minutes on "Song About Nothing," which has some punk energy. "Look How Far " is another example of how they can make the most of less than two minutes. Then they close the album with a song that is dialed in from their middle ground. I'll give this album an 8.5. I enjoyed it, but chances are slim that I will feel like listening to it again. They hit on what works for them as a band, dialing it for the fans that have kept them going all these years. It sounds great, so that is probably what you want from these guys as time marches on and so do they.

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May's Top 10 Albums

May is now two days out the door, so jsut catching up on this as I was trying to get ahead of kicking off June's Death Metal month, and life was being life, so now I am getting caught up, so let's get you abreast of new releases. This might help you, casual readers, with what you might have missed.  I am not doing little blurbs on them, just linking the reviews. This helps me organize my lists for the end of the year by listing the album's genre. This does not mean that these albums have been released this month, but it is a list of new or upcoming albums I have enjoyed the most. I have albums in my in-box that won't come out until August, so I am normally way ahead of the curve in this regard. They are ranked in order of how much I have listened to them. This month, leaned more on heavy stuff ranging from New Wave to Doom, so perhaps you will find your new favorite among them. Here are the Top 10 albums for May of 2026.

10-Metal Church- "Dead to Rights." 

Thrash

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2026/05/heavy-maytal-metal-church-dead-to-rights.html

9-Iceage-"For the Love Of Grace & the Hereafter" 

Indie Rock 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2026/05/iceage-for-love-of-grace-hereafter.html

8-Truck Violence- "the Weathervane is my body." 

Noise Rock

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2026/05/truck-violence-weathervane-is-my-body.html

7-Venom - "Into Oblivion." 

Heavy Metal 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2026/05/heavy-maytal-venom-into-oblivion.html

6-Dimmu Borgir - "Grand Serpent Rising." 

Symphonic Black Metal 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2026/05/heavy-maytal-dimmu-borgir-grand-serpent.html

5-Tori Amos-"In Times of Dragons" 

Alternative

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2026/05/tori-amos-in-times-of-dragons.html

4-Astari Nite,- "Medications in Bloom." 

Goth / New Wave

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2026/05/astari-nite-medications-in-bloom.html

3-Genghis Tron-"Signal Fire" 

Prog Metal 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2026/05/genghis-tron-signal-fire.html

 2-Frozen Soul-"No Place of Warmth." 

Death Metal 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2026/05/frozen-soul-place-of-no-warmth.html

,1- Warning-"Rituals of Shame." 

Doom

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2026/05/heavy-maytal-warning-rituals-of-shame.html

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Death is June- Nunslaughter : "Satanic Chaos Legions"

This American band is a staple of the extreme metal scene; they are an aggressive yet dynamic blend of black metal and death metal. The vocal raps are really the only black metal element. As far as the satanic elements, they are pretty much just lyrical. I am not sensing they are darker than any other death metal band of this type, with Deicide and Archgoat being the unholy standards here. A song like "Jesus Fucking Dies" is fun, but on the thrash side of death metal. There is some tremolo-picked guitar in places that blur the lines a little here and there. They are very good at placing the vocals in the right places for maximum effect, as they are spit out as an accent to the faster guitar flowing under what they do.

"Christian Ruse" has more of a groove to its chug, though the vocals are not as memorable in their marginally lower snarl. They do throw in a cool moshy riff for a few measures, but it is not allowed to flourish long enough to get a pit going. You can hear more Slayer influence on this one. The first really blasty moment comes on "Die Your Own Death," which is balanced out by their more thrashing side. There is a more punk feel to "Rotten Messiah" that really lies in the drumming and the loose song structure.

The bass sound, being very prominent in the mix, creates a heavier sound than most bands of this kind. The deliberate nature of "Peukarist" gives the vocals more purpose and makes this one of the album's best songs so far. "In the Flames of Inferno" raced along a more predictable course. A song like "Heavenless" feels darker, which gets the message across more effectively. Though their frontman, Don of the Dead claims that they view Satan as just a philosophical symbol of rebellion, that being actually theistic Satanists, giving them more of a Laveyean stance if they are even into that much. They do branch out enough to delve into the Lucifer mythos on "Lucifer the Light' which is a pretty effective song. 

"Cathedral of Stench" hammers at you with a more Morbid Angel-like feel. Then they go full speed thrashing with the feral attack of "Listen to the Lies". They also keep things to a raging one-minute time limit on "Infernal Reign." They end the album with another minute and a half blast of speed with "Spear of Satan". I have heard grindcore bands use this time more effectively than just thrashing at you with their foot on the gas. I will give this album an 8.5; these guys stay true to who they are and do it with some songwriting sensibilities, even as rabidly furious as this album is. 

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Death Is June - Ditheist : "Cosmic DNA"

 

This band from Chicago is bringing it in a very legit fashion. They are dense and hammering with melodic bass playing and riffs that are hooky, not just beating your brains in. The technical aspects are kept in check, and what is impressive is how they pack what they do into three and four-minute songs. "Kill the Priest' does bring more of a full blasting Deicide-inspired decimation to your ears. But they leave room for the vocals. It is not as strong as the first two songs, but it still works for what it is. 

"Nyarlathotep" dabbles in the Morbid Angel mythos of Sumerian magic, while offering a thundering double bass undercurrent to the very purposeful riffing. "Apoplectic Delirium" is a denser chug that features a wildly chaotic guitar solo being wanked over it. The first song that holds any trace of a black metal influence is "Covenant of Hate,"  and that is really only in the beginning. It is a more deliberate song than jsut a blast fest. Though midway through the song, the double bass does speed things up some. But there is a hooky thrash-like riff they return to that gives you something to latch onto.

"Mouth to Hell," however, does find them racing off to give into the need for speed. The vocals croak in a way that brings Immortal to mind. It does drop down into a more convincing groove in the song's third act. "Singularity" rumbles along at your typical death metal chug that is middle of the road for death metal. I will give this album a 9, as it gets the job done more often than not when it comes to the aggressive nature of the genre, while bringing you the riffs that hook you in and vocals that have form and function rather than jsut being an afterthought.

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Converge : " the Hum of Hurt"

 

These guys have been working overtime as it's their second album of the year. From what I heard about this album going in, the buzz seemed to be it was going to be their noise rock albun, but I am not hearing that on the opening track, which might find the feral speed dialed down a bit but is pretty metallic otherwise, just more deliberate and not as chaotic.  Jacob's vocals are not as snarled on "Doom in Bloom". They pretty much pick up where they left off on the "Love is Not Enough" album with "It Only Gets Worse." Production-wise, it sounds like it was recorded in the same sessions. 

"Detonator" carries a steadier groove as the riffs flow with a more organic intention. Jacob is exclaiming the vocals in a pained spoken tone that he tenses up into his trademark bark here. There is a post-hardcore feel to some of the space and atmosphere here, rather than the type of barrage they normally hit you with."I Won't You Go" has a more Black Flag era hardcore sound to it, but there are more rabid, rapid-fire injections of blasts forced into the transitions. There is more tension built into these songs thanks to the bass being more of the backbone, but on a song like "It's Not Up to Us," this is continued to be tempered by wrathful sonic indulgence. I can appreciate the increased levels of dynamics here, and Jacob is using more vocal colors. 

At six minutes, "Dream Debris' is the longest song, but it's also the darkest and most brooding, with the rumbling bass line coming further to the forefront yet. When the vocals come in, they are low and spoken at almsot a whisper. It builds up into a sludgey roar. The two-and-a-half-minute instrumental."It Used to Matter showcases creepy guitar tones, but it seems like an intro to the more caustic title track. The opening riff is the most metal part of this album so far, and adheres closer to what you expect from the band. The last song is the album's second longest. It has a crushing, heavy riff that powers it and gives you the kind of punch you want these guys to pack as it ebbs back into weirdness. I will give this album a 10 as it might even be better than the year's previous release from them. 

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Welcome to Death is June 2026

 

Here we are bringing things to a boil as the heat of another June shifts the focus to death metal. The genre has made great gains in popularity, with a band like Amon Amarth playing arenas, and enough wars popping off around the globe to set the stage for it.' continues to leap in popularity with each passing year, with all the wars simmering around the world setting the stage for it. I 

As a fan of the genre since the 80s, the things I ask of my death metal is not unlike what I want from most music... first and foremost, darkness and moodiness to it. This means death metal that is just straightforward and heavy on the part of the snare is more than likely going to bore me. Looking for bands doing their own thing, who are not solely tributes to Morbid Angel, Incantation, or Entombed. The 90s were an important time for death metal, so leaning into that sound is ok, as long as you are doing your own thing with it. 

Going to cover death metal adjacent genres like death-core, grind-core, metalcore, and even thrash, if they are more metal than whatever core they wish to imply. One thing I am big on after hearing too many death metal musicians complain about the death toll of COVID or lamenting the death toll in Palestine, is, are these guys legit? Are they having doubts about worshipping death? Death is a sure outcome; there is no running from it. Everyone is going to die; this should be embraced and celebrated. If the band is not ready to embrace that kind of darkness, I do not want to hear them. With that said, let us enter the month of death metal for Death is June. 

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