Usually, when a band does a cover album, they choose songs from bands that influence them in some way.  Dying Fetus were among the first generation of death metal bands to have been heavily influenced by other death metal, and that certainly shows in the track selection on History Repeats… The EP features five beefed up classics from the early 90’s, an obscure gem from the later part of that decade, and an almost laughably short original. 

The album opens with a cover of Dehumanized’s “Fade Into Obscurity”, an aptly named song given the original band’s fate.  Dehumanized were peers of Dying Fetus in the late 90’s; both being part of the same wave of ultra heavy, brutal death metal that spawned more well know acts, such as Dying Fetus themselves, and Skinless.   There was a thriving underground scene full of similar bands at the time, and Dehumanized were among the best.  For whatever reason, they fell by the wayside while others prospered.  Given the closeness in style, “Fade Into Obscurity” ends up translating very well into the Fetus format, and this cover is a real winner.  Napalm Death’s “Unchallenged Hate”, and Broken Hope’s “Gorehog” follow, both responding fairly well to the Fetus treatment.   “Rohypnol” is the only original track, and while it provides a nice quick hit brutality, the fact that it clocks in at under a minute makes me sort of wonder what the point of even including it was.  The Bolt Thrower and Pestilence covers are interesting to hear,  but something seems lost in translation.  I just don’t think that either original band’s style is easily converted into Dying Fetus’ formula.  “Born in a Casket”, the classic Cannibal Corpse song, is a well chosen album closer.  A short and pummeling song that serves as the perfect vehicle for Dying Fetus to deliver one last punch to the temple.

History Repeats… is short and to the point.  If you like both early death metal, and Dying Fetus, you should have a lot of fun listening to this a few times.  Even the less successful covers were somewhat enjoyable, and fun to hear.  I have to question what the point of including 44 seconds of new material was though.  It seems tacked on, and frankly a bit out of place.  This EP could have been made more worthwhile if a few live tracks, or maybe a couple of re-recordings of some of the really old Dying Fetus songs had been included.  As things stand, I would only recommend this for die hard Fetus fanatics, but just about any death metal fan should get a kick out of hearing it at least once.

TRACK LISTING

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*Comments:

1. Fade Into Obscurity
    (Dehumanized cover)
2. Unchallenged Hate
    (Napalm Death cover)
3. Gorehog
    (Broken Hope cover)
4. Rohypnol   (Dying Fetus original -
    exclusive to this EP)
5. Unleashed Upon Mankind
    (Bolt Thrower cover)
6. Twisted Truth
    (Pestilence cover)
7. Born in a Casket
    (Cannibal Corpse cover)

Total playing time:  22:22

Release Date: July 19th 2011
Label: Relapse Records

Dying Fetus - History Repeats... EP

Reviewer: Garett

August 10, 2011