ALBUM REVIEW: Overtures Of Blasphemy – Deicide
There is always an air of expectancy when a band that has been there since the start of their genre releases a new record. Is this record a worthy addition to the discography? Is it a return to the glory of their early albums that made them front-runners in the genre? Or is it a tired attempt to recapture the magic of a time lost to history? These are all questions every fan of old-school death metal has whirling around their mind, as we draw closer to the release of Overtures Of Blasphemy, the twelfth record from Tampa legends DEICIDE.
Overtures Of Blasphemy seems to have been a long time in the making, with word on the follow-up to 2013’s In The Minds Of Evil coming sporadically from the DEICIDE camp since 2014. It would appear the band has really taken its time with Overtures Of Blasphemy, and it shows. Despite clocking in at 12 tracks, there isn’t really any filler across the record; with short run-times, DEICIDE keep momentum building across the whole album, and every track has its place.
The album opens strong, with a hooky groove kicking off One With Satan before DEICIDE bring the true ferocity. Over in the blink of an eye, the opener is up-tempo with drummer Steve Asheim never really letting up on the total abuse of the bass pedals and a crushing heaviness is present throughout the track. DEICIDE bring something a little different into play early on with Crawled From The Shadows – if you didn’t know any better, you might mistake the track as an offering from a band on a Scandinavian persuasion with its blackened, Swe-death riffing. The song is definitely atypical from the tried and tested Tampa sound, but it is a strong highlight from Overtures Of Blasphemy and proof that even now, Glen Benton and co. have something new up their sleeves.
Bringing the thunderous opening ten minutes of Overtures Of Blasphemy to a close is the second single to be released, Seal The Tomb Below. Built on the filthy, infectious groove that opens the track, the single is a straight crusher. A well-delivered vocal pattern and occasional busts of sinister lead work make the short song a guaranteed live favourite. It’s clear that while there is obviously still the desire to write brutal, devastatingly heavy tracks, DEICIDE are keen to return the fundamentals of song-writing with Overtures Of Blasphemy; big grooves that keep necks swinging, bigger hooks to keep the record stuck in your head, and a compact, punchy run-time to keep listeners from getting bored. If you hadn’t clocked that by this point in the album, All That Is Evil kicks in to ram that home with an album’s worth of groove in a nice, easy, 3:24 package.
Kicking off with some absolutely killer lead work, Anointed In Blood takes us into the second half of the record. A stone-cold groover, the track is a solid way to kick off the second half, but with the blinding lead work not making a return until the end of the track, the majority of the song falls a bit flat after such a strong opening. Bringing the darker, more aggressive side of DEICIDE back into play, Crucified Soul Of Salvation is a ferocious blast of pure vitriol that carries into the almost-blackened, equally dark Defying The Sacred – though the sinister lead work makes it one of Overtures Of Blasphemy’s stronger moments.
No matter what DEICIDE release, it will always be compared to the legendary self-titled debut and Legion. Both records are widely considered in the highest regard by death metal fans, and stand as two of the best-selling death metal albums of all time. However, it isn’t 1989 anymore. Benton and Asheim aren’t in their early 20s anymore, and the Hoffman brothers are long gone. The core of the band are older, wiser, more mature and more focussed than they’ve ever been, and it shows throughout Overtures Of Blasphemy. The newest chapter in their discography is very much a typical DEICIDE record, with a few surprises but mostly sticking to the tried and tested formula. However, it is stripped back, compact, and hits harder than a hammer with their classic ferocity wrapped up in a catchy, well-written package.
Rating: 8/10
Overtures of Blasphemy is set for release on September 14th via Century Media Records.
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