26 years of blasphemy, hatred and ferocity have bought us to "In the Minds of Evil", the new release from the mighty Decide. Along with classic albums such as their debut, Once Upon the Cross and The Stench of Redemption, there have been a number of complete doozies released by the band such as Insineratehymn and In Torment In Hell. Where will "In the Minds of Evil" fall in with previous Deicide releases?
Well, after numerous plays over the past week, Deicide have yet again released a beast of an album. The one two beating of "In the Minds of Evil" and "Thou Begone" start the album off in an incredibly heavy and furious fashion, and the album looses none of it's ferocity throughout it's thirty seven minute running time. Each song hits you right where it hurts, and reminds the listener just how good, heavy and downright evil Deicide can be. Gone is the tired and lazy sound that was apparent on the two previous albums, to be replaced with a high energy performance in almost all respects.
The first thing that hits you is just how good everything sounds. From Steve Asheim's pummelling drums to Jack Owen and Kevin Quiron's leads and monstrous riffs, everything is so clear, crushing and heavy. Then the songs hit you. Each one drives the band further into the death metal maelstrom they create. The energy this album demonstrates is magnificent. Each track is filled with malice, hate and some of the heaviest riffs Deicide have ever laid down.
The only thing that bothered me about the album is Glenn's vocal performance. Gone are his screams of anguish, only to be replaced by his monstrous but monotonous growl. In every song. It just get's too much sometimes, although his pronunciation and phrasing have improved immensely since Deicide's debut., but that doesn't help his performance feel tired and similar in every song, but this is just a small niggle, because in the grand scheme of things, this is easily Deicide's best album since "The Stench of Redemption". The solo's are also worthy of a mention, moving even further away from the sporadic and Slayer-esque solo's of the Hoffman's, to more rock/blues influenced soloing that has been adapted to fit the death metal template.
"In the Minds of Evil" is Deicide's strongest release for a long while, and goes to show that Benton's hatred of religion is not being tempered with age. It is as strong as ever, and if Deicide carry on releasing albums with the power and fury of "In the Minds of Evil", I will follow them into the mouth of Hell time and again.
No comments:
Post a Comment