I'm sure a review on this has been done before...but hell, I might as well put my own up, and get some opinions on it. Let me know what you think.
Vital Remains -- Dechristianize
This is the newest album by Vital Remains, being someone who wasnt into them in the past (hell, I hadnt even heard of them) and not having heard anything from their back catalogue, I was in for a surprise when I heard this CD. Id been hearing it hyped up as a great CD for a few months, so I ordered it. It came in a few days ago, and Ive been listening to it quite often since, to let it sink it so I can properly review it. Initially, the first listen exposed me to the CD, and I thought it was great. I still do, to be honest, but now it seems better.
This CD, if it can past the test of time, and repeated listens, will definitely be going on my top 10 CDs list, which is a hard place to reach, and its already on my top 10 of the year list, Ill tell you why now. The album is quite simply, great, its straight-ahead death metal, injected with melody, and from song to song, one thing remains consistent: Quality. From start to finish, this CD is quality, the main flaw may be the intro Let The Killing Begin which I really believe sets the feel for the whole album, but some may see it as a waste of space. One other small flaw is the lyrics, they are nothing extraordinary, just standard death metal fare, however, they are sure to make anyone who holds a grudge against Christianity, or religion in general, happy, personally I see no problem with them, being open-minded, but they are nothing stellar. Glen Benton is on vocals on this CD, and his vocals are good and strong, he remains consistent throughout the whole album, he uses two voices, his deep-throated growl, and a higher pitched shriek, he uses this shriek more often than usual so Deicide fans are in for a surprise. The song writing is also consistent throughout the whole album, everything comes out sounding great, and not really simple, either. Tony Lazaro does his job on guitars well, creating some heavy riffs, beautiful melodies, and damn good solos. One thing that sticks out is the drumming, Dave Suzuki plays bass, drums, and lead guitar on this album, and his main strength is definitely drumming. Although he does everything well, he is a very good drummer, the sound on some of the drums is a bit too thin at times, but aside from that, its very good, he has no trouble keeping pace at all it seems, hes just a good drummer in general. Something interesting, that is definitely a plus is the length of this album, some of the songs have an epic feel to them due to length, and the only song under 5 minutes long is the intro. The rest of the songs range from 5:44 (4. Devoured Elysium) to 10 minutes (9. Entwined by Vengeance), and average at about 6 to 7 minutes per song. The whole album totals up to sixty minutes and forty two seconds, an amazingly long time for a death metal album, and it doesnt feel strained, and full of filler material, because of the variations within songs it works. Another good thing is the production, its been done very well, some people seem to think the guitars are mixed a bit too low so you cant hear them well under Glen Bentons voice, but I hear them just fine when he is growling out his lines on the album, its a solid production in general, the drums are there in the mid-ground where they are easily audible unlike some albums where theyre in the background, but they dont overpower the guitars or vocals like on some albums, theyre right where they should be. Its quite simply a solid production job, like I said. Im going to try to finish this up now, overall the whole CD is solid, everything about it works well. I highly recommend this CD to fans of death metal, who also like some melody in the mix, or just love death metal, period. This should set the bar for newer death metal albums coming out in the future. I give it a 4.5 out of 5 on a scale of one to five, and on a scale of one to ten, I give it a 9.0 simply because although its great, no album is perfect.
This is the newest album by Vital Remains, being someone who wasnt into them in the past (hell, I hadnt even heard of them) and not having heard anything from their back catalogue, I was in for a surprise when I heard this CD. Id been hearing it hyped up as a great CD for a few months, so I ordered it. It came in a few days ago, and Ive been listening to it quite often since, to let it sink it so I can properly review it. Initially, the first listen exposed me to the CD, and I thought it was great. I still do, to be honest, but now it seems better.
This CD, if it can past the test of time, and repeated listens, will definitely be going on my top 10 CDs list, which is a hard place to reach, and its already on my top 10 of the year list, Ill tell you why now. The album is quite simply, great, its straight-ahead death metal, injected with melody, and from song to song, one thing remains consistent: Quality. From start to finish, this CD is quality, the main flaw may be the intro Let The Killing Begin which I really believe sets the feel for the whole album, but some may see it as a waste of space. One other small flaw is the lyrics, they are nothing extraordinary, just standard death metal fare, however, they are sure to make anyone who holds a grudge against Christianity, or religion in general, happy, personally I see no problem with them, being open-minded, but they are nothing stellar. Glen Benton is on vocals on this CD, and his vocals are good and strong, he remains consistent throughout the whole album, he uses two voices, his deep-throated growl, and a higher pitched shriek, he uses this shriek more often than usual so Deicide fans are in for a surprise. The song writing is also consistent throughout the whole album, everything comes out sounding great, and not really simple, either. Tony Lazaro does his job on guitars well, creating some heavy riffs, beautiful melodies, and damn good solos. One thing that sticks out is the drumming, Dave Suzuki plays bass, drums, and lead guitar on this album, and his main strength is definitely drumming. Although he does everything well, he is a very good drummer, the sound on some of the drums is a bit too thin at times, but aside from that, its very good, he has no trouble keeping pace at all it seems, hes just a good drummer in general. Something interesting, that is definitely a plus is the length of this album, some of the songs have an epic feel to them due to length, and the only song under 5 minutes long is the intro. The rest of the songs range from 5:44 (4. Devoured Elysium) to 10 minutes (9. Entwined by Vengeance), and average at about 6 to 7 minutes per song. The whole album totals up to sixty minutes and forty two seconds, an amazingly long time for a death metal album, and it doesnt feel strained, and full of filler material, because of the variations within songs it works. Another good thing is the production, its been done very well, some people seem to think the guitars are mixed a bit too low so you cant hear them well under Glen Bentons voice, but I hear them just fine when he is growling out his lines on the album, its a solid production in general, the drums are there in the mid-ground where they are easily audible unlike some albums where theyre in the background, but they dont overpower the guitars or vocals like on some albums, theyre right where they should be. Its quite simply a solid production job, like I said. Im going to try to finish this up now, overall the whole CD is solid, everything about it works well. I highly recommend this CD to fans of death metal, who also like some melody in the mix, or just love death metal, period. This should set the bar for newer death metal albums coming out in the future. I give it a 4.5 out of 5 on a scale of one to five, and on a scale of one to ten, I give it a 9.0 simply because although its great, no album is perfect.
