ALBUM REVIEW: Make Them Beg For Death – Dying Fetus
They’re back once again; one of the best death metal bands with one of the worst names. You cannot deny DYING FETUS are up there with the best to ever do it. And by ‘it’ we mean grace us with gurn-inducing dirty riffs, pummelling drumming and grotesque vocals. 2017 saw the band ascend back into the spotlight with Wrong One To Fuck With, which turned out to be something a lot of people ‘fucked with’, as it was fantastic and lit fans and critics alight. Now after 30 years, can they still bring that same unbridled fury and gore that they’ve unleashed onto the world?
Thankfully, Make Them Beg for Death is another incredible addition to their extensive catalogue as the band show no signs of slowing down for anyone. Forget mincing about with delicate instrumental intros, the band aren’t here to mess around. Going straight for the jugular, Enlighten Through Agony opens the album unapologetically with a quick blast of drums before the rest of the gang kick in and the gates of hell are well and truly opened. You’re greeted by that glorious technical guitar work coming into play while the vocals add to the disgust.
The opening to Compulsion For Cruelty carries on that technical guitar work until the track starts swinging its big death metal dick around with an unadulterated swagger. The groove that comes in is undeniably as sexy as it is filthy. This track will get the pit moving. Expect to take an elbow to the temple while this one is performed live. It showcases their ability to switch up the tempos and lean more into their ‘core’ sound with ease.
If it’s more of a leaning towards their grindcore roots you’re looking forward to, don’t worry there’s plenty of that here. There’s a plethora on show in tracks such as Feast Of Ashes and the blink and it’s over Throw Them In The Van. Forget having to be abducted, this track is so good you’d volunteer to get in there yourself. The ferocious Unbridled Fury contains several tempo and riff switches that give you whiplash (probably worse if you’re still inside the back of that van). Trey Williams behind the kit is an absolute machine and he must be with the changes he’s succumbing to on this one. At no point does he seem to struggle and his work is one of the highlights of the record.
John Gallagher knows how to write a riff, doesn’t he? There are plenty of them that stand out on the album but everything steps up a gear on Raised In Victory, Razed In Defeat. It’s possibly the track that encapsulates everything amazing about DYING FETUS. The breakneck speed of the track doesn’t mean that the groove suffers at any point. The vocals are as you’d expect from a death metal release, mainly deep growls and throaty roars but they are solid as always and utilised perfectly within the tracks. The band allow the riffs to drive the tracks rather than the vocals and in this genre that’s the best way to go about it. It would be nice if the bass was a little higher in the mix so we could really hear Sean Beasley sync up perfectly with Trey, but this is a minor nitpick in an otherwise brilliant death metal release.
The album ends with Subterfuge, which opens almost by sounding like a death metal GOJIRA before they dive straight back into their FETUS fury. There are some brutal riffs that they’ve saved till last in this one and it’ll leave you gasping for a breather as the album ends. Had it not been for some other colossal death metal releases this year this may have been in contention for the top spot and for some perhaps it will be the best.
DYING FETUS are one of the most reliable death metal bands going. 30 years of filthy riffs and they’re still going strong today. Make Them Beg For Death hits with the full force of a band fresh on the scene. After you’re through with this album, you won’t need to beg for death as the riffs will have already finished you off.
Rating: 9/10
Make Them Beg For Death is set for release on September 8th via Relapse Records.
Like DYING FETUS on Facebook.