Death is June - Deicide's "To Hell With God"

This is the last Deicide album I am going to be reviewing, as after this one, I have reviewed their entire discography of studio albums. This album found the band stepping into Auidohammer Studios to have Mark Lewis produce the album. When this album came out in 2011, Lewis had already produced Death Angel, White Chapel, The Black Dahlia Murder, Trivium, and DevilDriver, so he has dialed in the sound of modern metal. Right from the first song, it is obvious how it improved the sound. By improved and polished. That could be a drawback if you want this to sound like their earlier work and less like the average death metal band in 2011. 

Benton and his sonic sadists brough their a-game as they are ripping into these songs with no stopping their momentum. It's hyper-fast but still works. Not to say it might not get old midway through the album. Witness of Death"h makes you think it's going to side-step the god hate, but no, they dialed it up.  It is almost too fast for their own good, but it stays together somehow. "Conviction' has the lead single from this album. Lewis nails Gelns bass tone, which stands out in the mix. This song is way more purposeful than the first three songs, so it's no mistake why this was the single. They keep the catchy riffs going with "Empowered By Blasphemy." The verses are hookier than what is supposed to be the chorus. 

"Angels of  Hell starts off in a manner that is more thrashy than what they have done up to this point on this album, but I like the slight gallop in the verse. It is now a trademark that you can bet they are going to speed up at some point. What they have to do is make sure they have bookended it with enough dynamics. 'Hang In Agony Until You're Dead' is more like what was typical of death metal at the time. They have a blast-fest on " Servant of the Enemy." The taunt machine like precison in the chug of "Into Darkness You Go" is more effective. The last song works for what they do, and sounds fine, so no real complaints, but not wowed either. Overall, this album feels like it anchors their relevancy, so I will give it a 9.5. 

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