Artist: Decide
Title: To Hell With God
Genre: Death Metal
Release Date: 18th February 2011
Label: Century Media
Album Review
New DEICIDE albums are always welcomed by fans with scepticism. On the one hand, fans want to see the new lyrical/ theme qualities of the music to see if the most God hating death metal and what ways the band has decided to make the music more engaging. Then there are the fans who are tired after ten albums of Bible bashing and Satan promoting lyrics that Deicide has burned out their lyrical qualities and the only thing redeemable is the music. In ‘To Hell With God’s’ case, the latter wins. Much of the lyrical content is the same typical anti-Christian material that can be found on albums like ‘Insineratehymn’, but the music has been given a much needed boost of nourishment in melody and groove to almost make ‘To Hell’ seem like a brand new DEICIDE, despite that there has been no line-up changes since 2006.
The first thing fans will notice is the much added groove to the music; the kind of catchiness that made albums like ‘Insineratehymn’ slightly tolerable, despite its unpopularity for “dumb content”. Tracks like ‘Save Your’ feature a new kind of technical chugging and riff formation with the drums keeping right in step; it almost feels like Grindcore. Glen Benton’s vocal assaults seem more invigorated - either from inspiration or better production - but he sounds like a total monster again, and in turn, nudges DEICIDE out of the rut that made ‘Till Death Do Us Part’ seem a bit overworked and tired. ‘Conviction’ is a great balance of groove and death metal. For those who love present DEICIDE for Jack Owen’s (also known for his work in CANNIBAL CORPSE) solos should look to ‘Into The Darkness You Go’ which features a lot of brutality that also makes it probably the most unlikeable track because it sounds so monotonous with little regard to structure, but Jack’s work makes up for it. For those who seek the most dynamic and engaging track on the album, look to ‘Empowered By Blasphemy’. It doesn’t even really feel like DEICIDE because it is certainly groovy and the riffs are, daresay, melodic? Not something fans would come to expect in the usual DEICIDE arsenal. Ralph Santolla and Steve Asheim contribute their guitar and bass moments, on top of Steve’s drumming, which makes his diversity on musical ability only the more appreciated.
On the downside of this album, many of the song titles and lyrics fall too close into the same category. ‘To Hell With God’ and ‘How Can You Call Yourself A God’ are far too similar and may be passed up for fear of them sounding exactly the same, even though they sound very different (‘To Hell…’ is groovy while ‘How Can…’ is more doom based). Also, the album is very short - barely a half hour - so many of the tracks just shoot right by before fans can really let things sink in and appreciate them. However, overall, DEICIDE did well with ‘To Hell With God’ by avoiding the usual two or three album slump after they release a monumental piece. ‘To Hell With God’ is like ‘Stench Of Redemption’ all over again. Old fans rejoiced for a return to the old school form, and new fans were intrigued. Hopefully ‘To Hell’ will continue to intrigue and keep fan faith in DEICIDE well and justified for many years to come. It is not very often a death metal band survives for over twenty years, let alone, become better and better.
Tracklist
01. To Hell With God (4:21)
02. Save Your (3:32)
03. Witness of Death (3:05)
04. Conviction (3:15)
05. Empowered by Blasphemy (3:16)
06. Angels in Hell (3:12)
07. Hang in Agony Until You're Dead (3:59)
08. Servant of the Enemy (3:17)
09. Into the Darkness You Go (3:32)
10. How Can You Call Yourself a God (4:15)
Website
http://www.myspace.com/theofficialdeicidemyspacepage
Cover Picture
Rating
Music: 8
Sound: 9
Total: 8.5 / 10
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