Sweet, holy hell... this is hands down one of the best death metal records I've heard in a long, long time. I'm sure everyone knows by now that Glen Benton handled the vocals on this record, and he sounds better than ever, using a much deeper and more consistent approach than he has used with Deicide, but in all honesty Glen Benton is not what should be selling this record. Chief songwriter Tony Lazaro (guitar) somehow finds a way to make blazing fast death metal songs that run an average of seven to 10 minutes stay interesting with lots of forceful rhythms and innovative uses of melody, while madman Dave Suzuki takes on bass, drums, and lead guitar. Sure, you can't really hear a note of bass, but his drumming is impeccably tight, and his lead guitar playing is fucking phenomenal! All you really need to hear to know that this record kills is the fucking harmony that kicks in about three minutes into the title track (the first real song - the intro serves no purpose), which is fucking ridiculously amazing. God damnit, that shit just makes me want to fucking destroy the world... so good, so fucking good - by far one of the best riffs I think I've ever heard in my life - no joke. And that's not to mention the totally over the top and fucking insane solos that have that crazy 80's virtuoso thing going on. Awesome. Admittedly there are a few songs that drag on a little bit, and the excessive speeds can be tiresome to a degree midway through the record (which is on the long side). But the thing is, every song has a lot of tempo changes, and a lot of the material will changeup out of nowhere with intense guitar harmonies and significantly slower breaks that are so much more powerful than 99% of what you'll hear from death metal bands these days. The recording could use some work, but after about 10 minutes your ears really get used to it. The drums are of course really rigid, which at first stands out, but the mix gives most of the weight to guitars and vocals, so the clickiness of the percussion lets the beats be heard. The vocals and guitars sound perfect in my book, so other than a more natural drum tone my only wish would be for a more prominent bass role. It sounds slightly thin at first, but it really ends up working out with few issues as your ears adjust. Visually this is a mixed bag. The jewel case comes with a slip cover that's got a lot of darker colors on it, with similar imagery focused around the death of Christ with plenty of pentagrams and inverted crosses. I like the look of the actual cover art stylistically, but I could deal without the silly rape scene going on in front of the crucifixion, and some of the band photos are a little goofy, but whatever. Overall it looks pretty clean and consistent, and the booklet is huge. The lyrics are pretty much what one would expect from a record called "Dechristianize", but the content is really long and drawn out, which is a change of pace. "Your death is what he needs... the blood of the righteous, We will celebrate, as you will go one by one... One by one... one by one to meet your bastard maker, Worship your god and pray unto him, His love is masked by the stench of decay... Devoured Elysium." I highly, highly recommend this album to any fan of death metal. It's not generic or predictable, but it's very fucking good. And I'm telling you, the actual song "Dechristianize" is unstoppable!
[Olympic]
Running time - 60:37, Tracks: 9
[Notable tracks: Dechristianize, Devoured Elysium, Rush of Deliverance, Entwined by Vengeance]
Vital Remains - http://www.vitalremains.com
