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The maybe
appropriately titled musical intro to Deicide’s latest slab of
smoked death metal Till Death Do Us Part is a sure
winner; a clusterfuck of disturbing downward spiraling guitars,
atonal melodies and nightmarish metallic riffs. Think of the
type of deranged black metal that France’s Blut Aus Nord
specializes in, well Florida’s finest deliver what the gallic
band does in one album but in the span of an intro, which in the
case of “The Beginning of the End” means almost four minutes.
It’s the perfect start to what may just be the band’s swan song.
With Glen Benton retired at forty and drummer Steve Asheim
thinking about getting busy (in a recent Terrorizer interview he
stated that he is forty and sick of sitting on a couch and smoking pot) the end of this
always reliable band may just come to an end. Then again,
something tells me that just won’t be the case. Deicide doesn’t
necessarily have to be a touring band, they could just put out
albums and they’d always have a large indie label willing to
release their aural hatred.
Beyond the
intro though, Till Death Do Us Part is pretty typical
Deicide at its loudest and most boisterous. Benton going as low
and guttural as his cookie monster allows shows that at forty,
he is still the same man. Perhaps bitter and disappointed by two
failed marriages, his current situation may have just helped to
make of this record the massive heavy load that it is. Kudos to
Steve Asheim, the only other original Deicide-ite who has
stepped up to the plate to carry the reins of the band. In
Till Death Do Us Part he not only plays drums, but guitars,
produces and writes the music.
Unsurprisingly, this record is standard for this band; fast songs
run the typical Florida death metal gamut with fast and
thunderous guitars that undulate and offer little variation in
form, one solo per songs that offer nothing else but a different
guitar tone because melody-wise they lack everything. Don’t get
me wrong, it is all here, all of what Deicide is and was you can
find aplenty. And it is an improvement over their most
lackluster material, but nine records deep into their career Deicide’s unmovable sound may just be getting a bit stale. Until
their next release, whether Benton decides if he wants to
continue or not, I’ll just go ahead and sow that Glen Benton For
President woven patch that came with the cd to my forehead.
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