Deicide - Till Death Do Us Part

June 29, 2008

Reviewer: Jesse

Leave it to Deicide to go through about a decade of mediocrity before releasing a fantastic album full of life and ambition that finally got people talking about them again and convinced the metal community that they weren’t dead on the couch in the basement, only to follow it up with another mailed-in, half-hearted effort.  The breath of fresh air that blew in when Santolla and Owen joined the band grew as stale as the lingering cigarette smoke left behind in their practice room.

What was being described as a cross between The Stench of Redemption and Legion ended up as a muddy mess of recycled blast beats and forgettable riffs.  Actually, it does have elements of both albums and the comparison isn’t completely that far off base.  The thing I guess no one thought about asking was, is a merger of the albums really a good idea? Apparently not.  You’ve got the pulsing double base and heaviness of Legion and the solos from Stench, coupled with extremely muddled production and a slurring growl that is easily Benton’s worst performance yet, does not make for a match made in heaven… err, hell.

Til Death Do Us Part has all of the earmarks, aesthetically, of an album that they really were trying hard to create an atmosphere for that would make someone think of epic evilness and determination.  The cover and inner artwork is an iconographic, biblical scene of good and evil with the evil demons trying to pervert the innocent, pure human.  Very different from the typical inverted crosses, skulls, 666 references and dissected Jesuses.  The lyrics are also quite good and seem as if Benton really put a lot of thought into them this time.  No cliché “Mad at God,” “Blame it on God,” “Kill the Christians,” or any such stuff.  No goofy band photo this time either.

The album starts off with another unlikely occurrence, an instrumental intro over three minutes long.  It’s kind of boring, but I was getting pretty intrigued already.  Then it wasn’t until the seventh song, “Not as Long as We Both Shall Live,” that I heard a single memorable riff or a chorus that wasn’t painful to listen to.  The solos that were such a staple of Stench are so completely out of place and are often drowned out by the rhythm guitar.  Huh?  It’s like they were recorded in the next room by a different band and were so loud that they were being picked up by Deicide’s mics. 

Then we have Benton’s vocals which are just a joke on this album.  He has always had a very powerful and distinct growl and would occasionally use a higher pitched scream every so often.  Neither is the case here.  In fact, as someone mentioned to me, Benton sounds like a live recording on stage - zero variance and almost completely indecipherable.  It honestly sounds like a death metal drunken slur.  I understand that they were going for “brutal” on this album, but when it compromises what you’re actually good at, you should rethink the plan.

What’s weird is that underneath the rubble, it does sort of seem like this album was not rushed, but I have to wonder just how much passion Santolla really put into this considering the bickering that went on and you also have to wonder how dedicated Owen is.  I mean, this is the same guy who left Cannibal Corpse because he wasn’t into it anymore and was treating it like a job.  At least, those were his words.  And we all know that Benton put up with mediocre band members for years in the past.  As a long time Deicide fan, I hope that all involved really want to be because it’s clear that when motivated, Deicide is still a force in the world of death metal.

Release Date: April 28th, 2008
Label: Earache Records

TRACK LISTING

1.  The Beginning of the End
2.  Till Death Do Us Part
3.  Hate of All Hatreds
4.  In the Eyes of God
5.  Worthless Misery
6.  Severed Ties
7.  Not As Long As We Both
     Shall Live
8.  Angel of Agony
9.  Horror in the Halls of Stone
10.  The End of the Beginning

Total playing time: 42:07

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