Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Deicide : "Till Death Do Us Part" [2008]

Death Metal
USA
Earache Records
63.14 MB
Line-up:
Glen Benton - Vocals & Bass
Steve Asheim - Drums, All Rhythm Guitars, Some Leads
Jack Owen - Additional Lead Guitar

Session musician:
Ralph Santolla - Lead Guitar

April 28th - Europe
May 13th - U.S.
There's a bonus track for the deluxe edition called "The Great Lance".

1.The Beginning of the End03:39
2.Till Death Do Us Part04:14
3.Hate of All Hatreds03:53
4.In the Eyes of God04:42
5.Worthless Misery05:00
6.Severed Ties04:01
7.Not As Long As We Both Shall Live05:05
8.Angel of Agony03:29
9.Horror in the Halls of Stone06:23
10.The End of the Beginning01:41
Total playing time42:07

2 comments:

Matías said...

God has gone into hiding and Jesus has put the second-coming on hold, because ear-crushing death metal experts Deicide have returned to conquer the world of satanic death metal. 2006’s creation “The Stench of Redemption” was beyond words and left every fan in awe of this bible-burning, angel-crushing machine. In fact, one wouldn’t be straying so far from the truth as to label it as an extreme metal classic. Fronted by the notorious, inverted cross branded Glen Benton, the Floridian horde has continuously slashed the competition to pieces and now rises to the ranks of death metal “anti-gods.”Now, two years later, “Till Death Do Us Part” has left the frenzied crowds salivating at the notion of a freshly recorded Deicide album.


Intro and outro “The Beginning of the End” and “The End of the Beginning,” are both unexpected instrumentals. The foreboding “The Beginning of the End,” features now session musician Ralph Santolla playing the guitar melodiously and all though I’m not too keen on short intros, I must admit, I liked it. “Hate of All Hatreds” plays like a rejuvenated Deicide as the music is circumvolved like a tornado. Then there’s “Severed Ties” which is as catchy as the drums on “Angels of Agony” are rapid.


Six minute jaw-dropper “Horror in the Halls of Stone,” shoves you into a time machine as Deicide turn to classic death metal. Benton’s screams are so haunting and his growls so distressed, you just can’t help but feel unnerved as if he’s trying to warn you that “The Beast” himself is coming to claim your soul; or that it already ran off with his. The mind-numbing groove alone is enough to win me over, but combined with the hair-raising melodies and Glen’s ingenious vocals, this song is sensational. The old-school swagger also makes this track stand out.


Though I have never been disappointed with a Deicide release (I actually listen to Insineratehymn and In Torment In Hell), I can say that they have replaced the frowning gloom and loom heretics found mid-era in the band’s career with what Deicide is most known for; the crooked smiled, boisterously spewing abhorrence, death metal legends, all though the lyrical content is less blasphemous and more straight-forward wrath. Speaking of which, many have been whining about the lack of the defamatory Anti-Christian lyrics, song-titles and cover art. Yet, Deicide are brutal enough to still keep those bible pushers at bay with “Till Death Do Us Part,” even without song titles like “Fuck Your God” and album covers with a pitiful looking dead Jesus on them. So go swallow those tongues.



I also have to talk about drummer Steve Asheim. He plays phenomenally as always and sometimes slows his playing to create a creeping beat, but as every good drummer, his stout mastery of the machine does not elude him, no matter what pace he decides to take. Asheim in no way abandons the fast and sweaty playing though and his songwriting is still to die for. Of course, let’s not forget Jack Owen and Ralph Santolla whom mercilessly shred those guitars, which I thoroughly enjoyed as well.


There is inescapable novelty to this top-notch album, but you’ll know for certain who is playing. For anyone out there who thinks that the band is too old or still yearns for the return of the Hoffman brothers, prepare to have your faces torn off. Turn up your stereos and invert every cross you find. If you’ve been waiting to listen to some killer beats or are going through a rough relationship (the crisp, yet dark beauty of the cover art is fitting with this idea), get your hands on “Till Death Do Us Part,” because Deicide have unearthed their banner of sadistic death metal glory and from the looks of it, I don’t expect it to fall anytime soon.

Written by YggdrasilinBlight on August 10th, 2008

Matías said...

The Stench of Redemption was a terrific album that showed Benton and Asheim recapture the past glory of the band with the help of Cannibal Corpse’s jack Owen and mercenary wanker Ralph Santolla. It truly was an album that captured the band at its creative peak and saw Asheim and Benton take the band in a new and challenging direction while remaining true to their death metal roots.

Till Death Do Us Part is the follow up to that album and was released earlier this year. Santolla is no longer with the band but comes in to lay down the solos as a session musician and Steve Asheim is still handling the bulk of the songwriting. To add to the excitement that this release caused it’s also being touted as possibly the last album by the band. Not sure how much truth there is in that last statement but Benton’s disillusionment with the scene has been long documented.

To be honest when I first heard the album I couldn’t get past the intro, The Beginning of the End. Slow, moody and with a lead guitar flourish from Santolla it sounded nothing like the Deicide I love. A warning for the old time fans of the band. This album’s going to take more than one cursory listen to get into and is probably the most demanding of the band’s albums.

For the most part, the band has managed to avoid re-making Stench. If anything, I feel like this album sounds a bit like a cross between Serpents of the Light and Insineratehymn while retaining that new found sense of aggression and atonal melodies from Stench of Redemption. For the most part it works quite well. Till Death Do Us Part, Worthless Misery, Hate of All Hatreds and Severed Ties are among the best songs that the band has ever written. Not As Long As We Both Shall Live has a Legion moment somewhere in the middle that is to die for and a vicious guitar harmony.

Santolla is reined in and compared to his work on the last Obituary, sounds remarkably restrained. Glen Benton sounds like his usual acidic bile spitting self while Asheim is rock solid behind the drum kit. I think the presence of Jack Owen in the band has really given Deicide a shot in the arm and added to their fury. The riffs on this album at times attain monstrous proportions and there really isn’t a bad song here.

This might be the band’s last album and (hopefully) it might not. Whatever the future of this band, as a fan I’m pretty thrilled with this album. A more than worthy successor to The Stench of Redemption, Till Death Do Us Part sees the band blasting away down a familiar path while still throwing in enough tricks and surprises to avoid all accusations of complacency.

Originally written for http://www.kvltsite.com

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