Deicide

Previously known as: Amon

Deicide - Serpents of the Light
Roadrunner Records, 1997
Genre: Death Metal

1. Serpents of the Light
2. Bastard of Christ
3. Blame it on God
4. This is Hell We're In
5. I am No One
6. Slave to the Cross
7. Creatures of Habit
8. Believe the Lie
9. The Truth Above
10. Father Baker's






Here it is, Deicide's final release... at least as far as I'm concerned. I've listened to many of the later Deicide releases and they just don't have the same level of attack their earlier works had. This is also the last Deicide album I would ever buy. I tried them again after the Hoffman brothers left the band, because many people insisted "they were back"... no they weren't. So rather than listen to a lot of mediocre music and writing a lot of mediocre reviews, I'm going to end my Deicide discography here.

Given how much I enjoyed "Once Upon the Cross", I remember buying this with some reservations because once you peak as a band there's usually no reclaiming that and I was afraid they did. In some respects you could claim that was true, because "Serpent's of the Light" may as well be titled "Once Upon the Cross (Part II)" or something to that effect. I remember when I purchased this I was mildly disappointed due to how similar the album sounded, but over the years I've become much more appreciative of that fact. I'm elated that Deicide had one more album like this in them before they would just get stuck in a writing rut of mediocrity (many critics seem to agree on that level at least). There are very few times that this level of catchiness and viciousness would play into the band again, which is quite sad. Given how short Deicide albums are, I actually listen to this back to back with "Once Upon the Cross" so it actual feels like I have a normal length album!

Deicide leave us with a very stellar legacy, in my opinion. I've seen some critics say they lost something after "Legion," and that may be partly true, but they did give us two more albums of very solid Death Metal. I, honestly, loved both styles Deicide gave to us in only the way they could. I feel all these early releases have a certain timeless quality and many bands continue to try and emulate this sound.

Deicide - Once Upon the Cross
Roadrunner Records, 1995
Genre: Death Metal

1. Once Upon the Cross
2. Christ Denied
3. When Satan Rules his World
4. Kill the Christians
5. Trick or Betrayed
6. They are the Children of the Underworld
7. Behind the Light Thou Shall Rise
8. To Be Dead
9. Confessional Rape






Deicide's brand of "intense" anti-Christianity returns with a far more polished brand of their music. I remember when this came out and it was a big headache for me to purchase this album. When this first came out, I was probably around 13 or 14 and it had a huge sticker on it saying the cover art was too offensive to be shown. Luckily it didn't have a Parental Advisory sticker on it, which was really my mothers main requirement when buying music. So, naturally I had very little Slayer albums when I was this young, but I did have albums by Entombed, At the Gates, Deicide, Suffocation, Unleashed and all this great stuff that was far too obscure for censors to even bother with! I think this is also one of the major things that saved me from spending any time with popular Rock/Metal of this time... it's kind of comical when you think about it, because my mother, being Catholic, didn't want me listening to that kind of stuff. To their credit, Black/Death Metal bands usually have better things to talk about than constant swearing like the more popular bands, who seem to "offend" people on the basis that they use harsh language and that's so comical to me compared to what Black Metal has presented to the world as a critique against social norms.

Anyway, "Once Upon the Cross" is a far more polished release compared the far harsher prior two releases. Some people consider this to be a fairly weak Death Metal album where "Legion" is their strongest release, but I actually really enjoyed this album. The music has this great balance between being catchy and devastatingly heavy and pummeling. Even looking back on this, one of the major aspects I appreciated about Deicide is that they could get through an album without constant blast beating and instead came up with more interesting material. I have nothing against a large onslaught of blast beats, but I do appreciate when a band can do more than just that with their drums. I really have no complaints about this release and, to this day, I listen to it quite often, although, I think I should bring "Legion" into rotation a little more.

I remember in high school, Deicide was consider one of the most Anti-Christian bands out there. Lyrically they're quite extreme with songs like "Kill the Christian" and from an American standpoint Glen burning the inverted cross into his head is quite insane... but in light of Black Metal, Deicide, to me, comes across as quite tame for this time frame. I think that's what took some wind out of the sails of Death Metal for being the most extreme... the level Black Metal could go to was far beyond that. Perhaps the arson charges in the U.S. are a lot more steep, or this just never occurred to Death Metal bands to act on, but that kind of thing would never really happen out here.

In the end I highly regard "Once Upon the Cross" as one of Deicide's finest moments, something I would rarely ever hear again. The Polish band Hate would pick up Deicide's style and run with it for years, before transforming into their own sound. I don't think they would ever write something as intoxicating as "They are the Children of the Underworld" though.

Deicide - Amon: Feasting the Beast
Roadrunner Records, 1993
Genre: Death Metal

Sacrificial (1989):
1. Lunatic of God's Creation
2. Sacrificial Suicide
3. Crucifixation
4. Carnage in the Temple of the Damned
5. Dead by Dawn
6. Blaspherereion
Feasting the Beast (1987):
7. Feasting the Beast (Intro)
8. Sacrificial Suicide
9. Day of Darkness
10. Oblivious to Nothing


If you've missed out on Deicide's first two demos, originally published under the band name Amon, then here's a chance for you to hear that piece of history. Most people missed out on these, especially the 1987 demo, which was never really released. Another interesting point is that R/C/ is now Roadrunner and luckily Deicide were only re-releasing demos when this change happened, because if you were a band releasing an album it probably sounded horrible. Suffocation's "Breeding the Spawn" sounded worse, in terms of quality, compared to "Effigy of the Forgotten" and Malevolent Creation's "Stillborn" sounded far worse when compared to "Retribution". I have no idea what happened this year, but it made stellar albums sound terrible.

Everything on the "Sacrificial" demo made it onto their first album, however the real treat is "Feasting the Beast" where not everything made it.  In fact "Sacrificial" being recorded in the studio doesn't sound totally different from the self-titled debut. It's obvious that's what got the band signed. "Feasting the Beast" however, was recorded in the garage on the bands 8-track recorder. The only song to continuously make it onto future recordings was "Sacrificial Suicide," which must be a band favorite. However, it seems only riffs may have made it from the other songs. It's interesting to hear the early recordings though, they sound awful, which is typical for this type of stuff. Glen Benton basically insists on using a pitch shifter the entire time. The drums are not very audible. The guitar riffs are really still transitioning out of the trappings of Thrash Metal, before breaking into new genre ground. I feel like Deicide were trying to be a more evil Slayer in some respects.

This is a must have for collectors. You should never expect a bands demo material to rival anything in a studio setting, so for those interested in the bands history I highly recommend getting this. I have no idea if this is hard to find these days, I just bought everything Deicide when I was collecting in the 90's.

Deicide - Legion
R/C, 1992
Genre: Death Metal

1. Satan Spawn, the Caco-Daemon
2. Dead but Dreaming
3. Repent to Die
4. Trifixion
5. Behead the Prophet (No Lord Shall Live)
6. Holy Deception
7. In Hell I Burn
8. Revocate the Agitator







This was my first Deicide album ever and I think I got this around 1993 or 1994. This was also one of my earliest experiences with Death Metal and I feel like this is a more obscure gateway band than the usual Sepultura or Cannibal Corpse around this time frame. I was never a big fan of Cannibal Corpse, but the sonic intensity of Deicide was more my speed. I always felt that Deicide could hit harder than most of the other bands out there and they came across as far more vicious, so when I finally found some other bands they weren't as interesting. Suffocation, on the other hand, would always be one of the heaviest bands around for me.

"Legion" starts off with "Satan Spawn, the Caco-Daemon" which intros with goats and a sample of Glen's voice in reverse. All standard fair Satanic imagery by today's standards, but back then it was a little more "shocking," especially to twelve year old me who had never heard something like this and was listening to things like Metallica, Megadeth, and Slayer only the year before as I journeyed into far more levels of Metal. I remember thinking the opening song was very chaotic sounding and I suppose I still think that today. It comes off as a lot more frenetic when compared to the other tracks. "Dead but Dreaming" is extremely classic, but very well structured. I think some of this chaos was done in the name of increasing the music technicality as you can hear in "Repent to Die." By the way, the bass guitar cutting through the mix in some of the riffs is spectacular! This album is literally over before you know it, since it clocks in at just under a half hour. It's a heavy blitzkrieg assault on your brain and given how well written the music is, I do wish it was a little longer.

"Legion" has a fold out poster kind of booklet which has a fairly cheesy version of the "trifixion" symbol first found in the booklet of the self-titled. Maybe it was cooler back then, but these days the poster would look kind of silly and campy. The music is anything, but that, so it's a strange mix to revisit. I actually wonder if this influenced the symbol the French Black Metal bands would use for Les Legiones Noire, albeit their version of the symbol is far more heavily embellished. Since both projects were operating at similar times, I just wonder if there was any influence there.

Apparently there was some criticism as to whether Glen Benton could really growl, which makes sense because I've heard people even question that today! I once played a show where someone told me all the growlers use pedals... and I know they don't and I wasn't about to. Glen did use some effects on the self-titled, but you can tell he didn't pitch shift his voice or anything like that for the vast majority of the album. In any event, he felt the need to point out on "Legion" that "This album was recorded with no harmonizer on my vocals, so for all my vocal critics 'SUFFER'." Either way, this is a very highly regarded Death Metal album and an absolute must have for Death Metal fans.

Deicide - Deicide
R/C, 1990
Genre: Death Metal

1. Lunatic of God's Creation
2. Sacrificial Suicide
3. Oblivious to Evil
4. Dead by Dawn
5. Blaspherereion
6. Deicide
7. Carnage in the Temple of the Damned
8. Mephistopheles
9. Day of Darkness
10. Crucifixation





I'm in the mood to go back in time and listen to some seriously classic Death Metal. Starting this off we go back to Deicide's self titled. I got into Deicide shortly after "Legion" was released and I bought that album solely based on the cover. Being 12 and thinking such imagery was cool was all it took for me to find Deicide. Little did I know the level of classic Death Metal I was about to embark on as their status got more and more legendary over the years.

You have to consider the American scene around this time. The most well known projects were Cannibal Corpse, Malevolent Creation, Obituary, Morbid Angel, and Suffocation. Most of the bands seemed to come out of Florida and Deicide was no exception. Deicide used to go by the name Amon at first, but after two demos switched to Deicide. Perhaps Amon wasn't evil enough, and that was probably true. Deicide really had a unique approach to the genre and they sounded markedly more evil than their other compatriots.

Every song on here has gone on to be basically be considered a seriously classic and these songs are heavily covered by other bands today. The Hoffman brothers guitar work is seriously incredible and so well written, and it's rather impressive how different their approach to the genre was. "Deicide" has the obvious heavy Thrash Metal influences as just about all early Death Metal does, but "Deicide" is faster and so much heavier than Thrash Metal you'd find in the 80's.  The Hoffman brothers use a very thick guitar tone and their riffs come across as so much darker than a lot of other bands at this time. Songs like "Blaspherereion", which has too many e's in it, is clearly influenced by the likes of Possessed. Glen Benton's growl, at this time, sits somewhere between  the standard Death Metal growl and a Thrash Metal yell, so it creates a fairly unique feel vocally as well. Eventually Glen would transition into using a more standard Death Metal growl, which was very appropriate for future albums, so I don't mind the loss. It also sets this album apart and sits as an interesting piece of Metal history and shows the clear evolution.

Strangely one of my all time favorite songs from this album is "Carnage in the Temple of the Damned," and the lyrics are basically all about Jim Jones. It even starts off with a sample telling people to drink the wine. Seriously a classic Death Metal release that fans of Death Metal should appreciate the world over.

Nile

Nile - Amongst the Catacombs of Nephren-Ka
Relapse Records, 1998
Genre: Death Metal

1. Smashing The Antiu
2. Barra Edinazzu
3. Kudurru Maqlu
4. Serpent Headed Mask
5. Ramses Bringer of War
6. Stones of Sorrow
7. Die Rache Krieg Lied Der Assyriche
8. The Howling of the Jinn
9. Pestilence And Iniquity
10. Opening of the Mouth
11. Beneath Eternal Oceans Of Sand




When I first heard of this band’s arrival on the scene I felt they would probably shed some serious intelligent light onto the blasé lyrical conceptions portrayed in most Death Metal releases.  Not to mention the musical arrangement concept of performing Egyptian Death Metal was immensely intriguing to me.  I was hoping for flowing Arabic guitar scales flowing up and down the fret boards of the guitars, coupled with an intensity Death Metal could only be known for.  However, I think what the public received is mostly a Harmonic Minor scale on the guitar, instead of the hundreds of scale work devised by the Arabic culture within their own music.  If you are truly searching for that “pure” middle-eastern feel then I would recommend Orphaned Land.  However, their devotion to God may put some metal fans at an uneasy spot of purchasing their albums.  However, if the music is all you care about then Orphaned Land presents a much more accurate form of Middle-Eastern extreme metal.  Perhaps Melechesh would be a good choice as well, especially for something more demonic.  Nile repeatedly screws up the message and gives education a bad name.  For they take a small piece of what they think is true and extrapolate that into gross inaccuracy with a reckless disregard for archaeological and historical truths.

I will first tackle the musical accomplishments of Nile, for they are far more impressive than their historical knowledge.  “Amongst the Catacombs of Nephren-Ka” as a Death Metal album is an incredibly well done masterpiece in my opinion.  However, when we beat our heads against the wall attempting to find the Egyptian Death Metal aspects it is very small indeed.  If this were not an attempt at Egyptian Death Metal, then I would say this is a creative wake up call to the Death Metal genre.  For the creation of the songs and riff writing is nearly un-matched.  Furthermore the guitar work is exceptional, fast paced when necessarily and broodingly slow at other junctures.  The skill with which they play is also quite incredible, Nile are truly well learned musicians and expect nothing less than a flawlessly executed performance on this album.  The drumming is an exceptional presentation of truly thoughtful drumming.  Pete Hammoura was not satisfied to blast through this album, but instead he thought out each drum line to syncopate him with the guitar and to throw in some necessary flare at times when things slowed down. 

The album launches you into a Death Metal blitzkrieg with “Smashing the Antiu” an inherently Egyptian sounding title; however, I cannot find one touch of an Egyptian song structure throughout the song.  It is merely a superb Technical Death Metal song and that is all.  “Opening of the Mouth” at points had some passages reminiscent of an Egyptian sound here and there.  However, other than that I did not find anything inherently Middle Eastern about the structuring of the songs.  Do not misunderstand me, for the songs are quite superb and I highly recommend listening to this CD, but if you are expecting a highly intelligent and well thought out conceptual piece, you will be as disappointed as me.  One of the most stand-out and interesting parts of this album is the song “Die Rache Krieg Lied der Assyriche.”  The song title is undoubtedly in German, and since Assyriology played a large part in German scholarly sectors in recent times. I see no problem in quoting a title.  However, it was really Sir Henry Austen Layard, an Englishmen, who is attributed with being the father of Assyriology.  His excavations, with permissions from the British government, began in 1845.  However, Jules Oppert, a German, would be instrumental in deciphering the Behistun Rock in the Mesopotamian region.  Now, on the topic of Assyrian not being Egyptian, I will vehemently and violently explain this idiocy later.  Now the music of this song is quite impeccable and different.  What Nile took it upon them to do was make a donation to the Tibetan Monks and have them sing on their album.  This is easily one of my favorite songs on the album.  It has a very tribalistic and foreboding feel in the recording.  The interesting part, while very creative, is that they used Tibetan Monks, clearly from Tibet.  Furthermore Tibet is not near Egypt.  While the use of the Tibetan Monks was sheer creative genius on Nile’s part, I find it a bizarre choice for what they were conceptually trying to achieve.  Though, this brings me to the song that I thought was quite impressive and the most Egyptian sounding out of all of them, “Opening of the Mouth.”  In the middle of this song the whole band stops and a tribal drumming sequence goes as they sing “Sebau Fiends work evil on the body.”  I thought this was an incredibly impressive switch to put into the middle of an intense Death Metal song, showing how creative and experimental Nile was willing to be.  Standing out amongst the rest of the tracks to classical aficionados was a rendition of Gustav Holsts “Mars the Bringer of War.”  Nile changed the name to “Ramses Bringer of War,” while they did not play the entirety of Holsts original work they played the more memorable intro of his masterpiece.  This was a great choice to re-work, because surprisingly practically no extreme metal bands seem to have thought of covering it.  Nile’s rendition was splendid in my opinion and I think many Death Metal fans will agree that it is a triumph in the Death Metal scene.

This brings me into discussing the lyrical content of their so called “Egyptian lyrics.”  Now I read an interview with Karl Sanders around the time this album was released and I remember him stating that some of the lyrics used were Sumerian.  Now I was at first greatly curious about this because a book on Sumerian linguistics is quite difficult to track down.  I have merely found a book on the Akkadian, which is quite extensive, and archaeologists have a full alphabet for.  The last I had heard was that the Sumerian language was still a broken language within the archaeological field, so to see a Death Metal band writing their own lyrics in Sumerian would be quite impressive indeed.  Now the Akkadian language is derived from what linguists have called “Common Semitic.”  I conjecture that this may have been Sumerian, for the writing styles are almost identical, using cuneiform as the primary writing aspect.  Now that broke into West Semitic and East Semitic, East Semitic broke into Eblaite and Akkadian.  The city-states of Akkad over ran the land of Sumer taking over the entirety of the southern Middle East.  The Akkadian language dominated the region and as time went on Akkad became a common trade language used amongst Persians, Egyptians and Akkadians.  However, the Akkadian language was doomed to die out on its own, but Western Semitic flourished and eventually developed into the commonly known language as Hebrew (including Canaanite).  Jesus Christ spoke a derivative/similar language called Aramaic, for those wanting a reference point.  Furthermore when Akkad flourished in the region it was also prior to the Babylonian and Assyrian empires that later took rule, sometimes the Akkadian language is commonly referred to as Babylonian and Assyrian.  Granted Babylonian and Assyrian were also modified linguistic representations of the original Akkadian language, because the empires are nearly thousands of years apart, so some language modifications had to occur.  The key to discovering and decoding the language was when archaeologists found the Behistun rock which was a trilingual inscription, containing, Old Persian (Akkadia), Elamite and Sumerian. 

As you can see language is an interest of mine so imagine my surprise when I saw a song title such as “Barra Edinazzu.”  I couldn't identify this language for the life of me.  It clearly wasn’t Egyptian, in fact very little of the foreign languages used throughout this album are not Egyptian.  Some words and phrases are, but most are not.  So I took a closer look at the lyrics to “Barra Edinazzu” and I knew I had read them somewhere.  Sure enough they came from the Necronomicon, on page 80 to page 81.  The prayer entitled “The Exorcism of Barra Edinazzu (For Spirits who Attack the Circle).”  Word for word this prayer is copied and Karl Sanders had the nerve to explain to the public that this was “Sumerian.”  It sure as hell is not Sumerian, I have Sumerian dictionaries I can’t find a goddamn thing relating to the words used in this book.  Now remember Akkadian and Sumerian are very closely related languages, and the Sumerian translations in the Necronomicon are not even nearly close to what I find.  The word for “God” or “Spirit” according to the Necronomicon is stated as being “Xul.”  This I can’t find anywhere, I notice that the word God is “ilum” and the word spirit is “mukil resim.”  For those about to point out that the Necronomicon has a bibliography in it where I can find related information, I own some of the books and you will see that I am using them in my bibliography at the end of the review to disprove the farcical nature of this most infuriating text. 

The Necronomicon’s perversion of Sumerian does not stop at linguistics alone, but the belief structure they would have you believe is so erroneous it makes me want to hit something.  There are various parts of the Necronomicon that wholeheartedly piss me off.  The first that stood out to me was a numerological aspect in the title “Supplementary Material to 777.”  The number 777 is related to Judaic lore and is the number of God.  If you are pulling aspects of a Sumerian time-frame then using a representation of God makes no sense. Furthermore the Sumerians used a sexagesimal number set.  However, the number seven was greatly important in to the Sumerian culture; often time’s ritualistic aspects had to be done seven times.  This is most likely why in the development of Judaism the number 777 was represented as God.  Labeling a deity with numerical representation is not new and the Sumerians did it as well.  However, the Necronomicon tries to make you believe that they got the number system correct.  Sometimes the Sumerians would write the names of their deities in the form of numbers such as Samas (pronounced ‘Sha-mash’) whose number was 20.  Now the Necronomicon actually did get this aspect correct, but when it comes to the number 30 the representation for Sin, the Necronomicon states it is the number for Nanna.  This brings me to wonder what else is inherently erroneous about the Necronomicon.  Now why Nile chose a book that presents erroneous information about the Sumerian’s I will never know.  For a band that should have spent their time focusing on Egypt they seemed to use a lot of the “Sumerian” aspects. 

Now another aspect of the Necronomicon that really makes my blood boil is how it bases a lot of truths around Aleister Crowly and H.P. Lovecraft, two writers of fiction.  Granted both men were into occult magic, but it was not Sumerian.  There’s in fact a chart of comparisons on page xxxix of the Necronomicon which compares all three, Lovecraft, Crowley, and Sumer.  This does nothing but increase my belief that this perversion of Sumerian is nothing but a joke in terms of the Necronomicon.  The first thing I notice is Cthulhu, whose number is 666, and in Sumer should be referenced as Ctha-lu or Kutulu.  Now I’m looking through my book “Gods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia.”  I can’t find reference to this Kutulu person anywhere.  Nevermind symbology related to him or the number 666.  Now I know the number 666 in the Torah was related to Lucifer because of his imperfection (see my review on Blut Aus Nord’s “The Work Which Transforms God” for further reading on this).  I can indeed locate some of the names within but as far as the symbolism of some aspects is completely incorrect.  For example, the Pentagram, which in most religions has become a pretty important aspect, especially in the form of a Pentacle.  Now it says that it is derived Plough Sign in Sumerian, which it says “the original pentagram and sign of the Aryan race.”  (Necronomicon, pg. xxxix)  Now will someone please kindly inform me where in the bloody hell the Aryan race comes into play here?  First off the Sumerians did develop the symbol of the swastika and it was used very rarely in their culture.  However, as an Aryan representation for Arabic peoples is the most preposterous thing I have ever heard.  The swastika wasn’t even derived from a plow symbol.  The symbol for a plough in Sumerian doesn’t look anything like a pentagram either (see Figure 3 on Page 102 of “The Sumerians” by Samuel Noah Kramer).  Now the Sumerians did have a star that was important in their religion and it was an EIGHT pointed star.  Sometimes it was represented as a six pointed star, which may have later influenced the Star of David used by the Jews.  However, in terms of deities Nile seems to have done their better research and when mentioned in the song “Die Rache Krieg Lied der Assyriche” Nergal is mentioned as the “dread god of war and plague.”  This is a fairly accurate description of this god and I cannot fault Nile on this statement.  However, I can fault them on the fact that Nergal has no relation really to Egyptian Mythology.  However, the developmental influence may have happened across the sea.  Regardless Nergal is mentioned nowhere in Egyptian mythology.

The next topic I would like to discuss is the aspect of Evil used on the Nile album and throughout the Necronomicon.  This is an extreme metal release so obviously Nile would closer associate themselves with an evil nature rather than a benevolent one.  However in the linear notes on the last page it quotes “Evil thanx from Nile to.”  While at first glance many would think nothing of this, but then it occurred to me that the Egyptian religion is fairly unique in the sense that it’s deities have both good and evil aspects to them as if there is always a balance.  I found this interesting when I began to think about it because shouldn’t technically Nile say “Neutral thanx” if they would like to come off as being well read on the Egyptian religion?  Furthermore the Necronomicon in itself is held as a tome of “evil.”  No matter how inaccurate it actually is.  I am saddened and dismayed at Nile’s choice to reference the Necronomicon in their music for it makes them seem as if they are unwilling to do the hard research, to make sure what they display as fact is indeed fact.  Nothing made me more furious than Karl Sanders’ quote telling the world this was indeed Sumerian, when in fact it was nothing near what Sumerian was in actuality.  Now there are thousands of uninformed people walking the earth proclaiming that Nile is a good reference, when in fact, if Nile had done careful research on their own they would have seen the mockery in itself.

I must discuss my own personal outlook on the Necronomicon for a moment, because I believe I have a very educated opinion on the subject, seeing as how I have read a fair amount and studied Sumer quite a bit in my spare time.  I once read a review of the Necronomicon and the reviewer stated that the Bible and the Torah were works of fiction, but they were based on fact.  How could things be any different for the Necronomicon?  This I believe was coming from someone who truly believed in the things the Necronomicon claimed to raise, furthermore this person stated that he had seen “things” that were unexplainable.  Now my question is that if the Bible and the Torah are works of fiction then why is not the Necronomicon the biggest work of fiction of all?  I see many people claiming such books of power as “true,” yet they have no substantial works or historical background to back them up.  Now the Necronomicon tries very hard to create that historical background for the reader, but reading any literature on what Sumer really is, any fool can see that the Necronomicon is an incredibly ignorant work of fiction.  I have heard people claim that other books of power are also the oldest in magical works, yet when presented with Pope Honorius and Le Dragon Rouge these people know nothing of true books of power.  Misinformation is very dangerous it is the quickest and easiest way to forget the past.  I’m greatly disappointed in Nile’s work with this great concept.  They came up with a truly original and brilliant idea, but then dropped the ball during the writing and research process.  I am sad to say this will get an overall poor rating, but I must do it.  The music is great the information is unforgivably erroneous.

Bibliography:

Black, Jeremy and Green, Anthony.  God’s Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia.  Third University of Texas Press, Austin Texas, 1997

Celentano, Dave.  Monster Scales and Modes.  Centerstream Publishing, Anaheim Hills, CA, 1992

Huehnergard, John.  A Grammar of Akkadian.  Scholars Press, Atlanta, GA, 1998

Kramer, Samuel Noah.  The Sumerians.  University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL, 1963

Saggs, H.W.F. Babylonians.  British Museum Press, London, 1995

Simon.  Necronomicon. Avon Books, New York New York, 1980

Obituary

Obituary - Frozen in Time
Roadrunner Records, 2005
Genre: Death Metal

1. Redneck Stomp
2. On the Floor
3. Insane
4. Blindsided
5. Back Inside
6. Mindset
7. Stand Alone
8. Slow Death
9. Denied
10. Lockjaw




“Frozen in Time” signifies the return of the legendary Obituary to the Death Metal scene, and when I first heard about this release coming out since their last album seven years ago, I was no doubt skeptical. Unfortunately some of my inhibitions about this release showed through in the recording, however, a lot of things that I really enjoyed about Obituary have not changed one bit and they rather live up to their album title in this sense.

It’s interesting to view the return of Obituary since “Back from the Dead” was supposed to signify the end of the band. They had been doing that play on words thing for a bit with their live album being called “Dead” rather than “Live.” I thought it was a pretty witty thing to do and I’m surprised they didn’t do something so blatantly obvious with this album title; however, I think it is an applicable title nonetheless. Obituary tried doing something that few bands ever do and reminds me of Carcass’ “Reek of Putrefaction” in its attempt, but “Frozen in Time” starts off with a purely instrumental track entitled “Redneck Stomp.” This is one of the points that have changed in Obituary, and I’m not particularly sure as to why this track title was chosen, it doesn’t fit with their theme in general, nor does it really fit with the rest of album. To be honest it was only a marginally interesting track and I typically skip it whenever I listen to the album and usually I’m not in the habit of skipping even intro tracks and so forth.

For the most part this is the same Obituary that existed seven years ago and they merely picked up where they left off. However, some small facets of the group have changed. One of the aspects I didn’t enjoy very much was that John Tardy’s voice felt like it had far too much reverb on it most of the time. His layering sequences sounded awesome, but overall it didn’t sound as good as the previous works. For some reason this really shows up when listening to the album in your car, it’s not so bad on the computer or home stereo as I have tried it on all three. Regardless John Tardy has maintained that wonderful vocal tone that has always been one of Obituary’s claims to fame and he hasn’t lost one ounce of his skill over the years. One part they adjusted studio wise is the drum tone. Donald Tardy’s drums sound so much more thunderous and powerful than any of the previous Obituary albums; it is truly a wonderful experience to be honest. This is absolutely a change they should make permanent.

The guitar work for this album was pretty standard as far as Obituary goes. It had all the same influences as before and they haven’t tried to incorporate anything overly technical which is the rave of today, so for this album’s year of release this is actually rather different for what’s going around in the scene. Obituary kind of left the scene when that whole technical Death Metal approach really started to take off in popularity. However, one aspect of this album that I could have done without is that the guitar solos on here seem to be far more lackluster than the previous works. Not that Obituary ever maintained jaw dropping solos, but on this album they just didn’t fit as harmoniously as the previous works. Maybe it is something they will pull together as they work together more after such a long break, but the solos did get slightly better as the album went on, so maybe those tracks were the last written songs. Who knows? Riff wise this album is reminiscent of being a combination between “World Demise” and “The End Complete” so if those are a highlight of Obituary’s career for the listener, then this is truly an album you will enjoy. Other than that Obituary maintains their standard brutal riffing with thundering bass behind it with the mid-paced drumming.

Overall this is a very good album; just some minor aspects caught me off guard here and there. But as an Obituary connoisseur after listening to this album a few times I find this a worthy Obituary album to own. However, when it comes right down to it, I will probably choose to listen to the likes of “Cause of Death,” “Slowly We Rot” or “World Demise” over this release, no matter what improvements they’ve made. They still clearly have the songwriting skill of the past, but there’s something about those albums that remains special and better than the newer material, no matter how fresh this stuff is. A seven year break isn’t exactly something I typically expect to be blown away by on the first return album, some bands pull it off quite well, others flop really hard, “Frozen in Time” is somewhere between the middle and the top as far as return albums go.