ALBUM REVIEW: Deicide – Overtures Of Blasphemy

Another very exciting review here, this time the new album of DEICIDE, a legendary band within Death Metal! Century Media brings this into existence, let’s hope it has been worth the wait!

1. One With Satan kicks off with slower tempo riffing, insanely heavy drum fills, killer bass tones and a gruesome appearance on vocals coming in with total strength. The track soon descends into madness firing into blast beats and tremolo riffing mania, with a truly classic Deicide feel this opening track really sets the bar high! The guitar solo was really well played and fully of unique melody and a nice flamboyance to it. Awesome work and hopefully the rest of the album is just as high quality.
2. Crawled From the Shadows follows in hot pursuit with just straight forward intensity and a much more upbeat feel to it, with that said it still has the beautifully gruesome feel we all love from Deicide. The band have certainly grown more melodic and progressed as musicians but that is very natural for a band with such a lengthy career. The production really manages to capture every slight detail of the music profoundly and allows the release to be a very pleasant listen thus far, but we still have plenty of time to see how it fairs. The blistering solos, groovy rhythms, perfect drumming and hideously heavy vocals all just come together so naturally at this point with nothing feeling forced or dull, just a true sense of classic Death Metal!
3. Seal the Tomb Below rips itself into life with some almost thrash like grooves, drawn out guitar leads and a totally menacing ground out punch to the riffs. There is some incredibly lethal aggression in this track, it just feels so natural to the band. The guitar solos are awesome, really well played stuff and the whole band just really show why they are at the top of their game. It is nice to see Deicide are not recycling their old material, a trap a lot of older bands fall into, but taking their music to new heights and extremes with a more ambient touch to track like this. Epic stuff!
4. Compliments of Christ falls into place beautifully with some almost blackened tinges on the guitar riffs, soon coming into furious hooks and just so much tight aggression that the band have fine tuned over the years. This track is a prime example and statement to anyone who thought Deicide would put something out lacking punch, this shows the band are at the top of their game for good reason. The lyrics sound just like the bands classic material and almost give a nostalgia kick to things. This song is perfectly in your face as is that stunning guitar solo. The marching beat of the track is just so damn catchy, totally headbang worthy.
5. All That Is Evil comes into fruition with a quite technical feel to the grinding riffs, nothing over the top but some really tight rhythms used that pack a hell of a punch. This is the kind of track that shall work beautifully live, total mosh pit mayhem fuelling glory, really making me want to see them live again. The track is actually a perfect example of how huge and over the top Death Metal can be while retaining its heavy and unrelenting forcefulness. The chorus is certainly going to be stuck in my head for a while and the guitar leads will be fun to learn for those of us who like a nice shred to play with. Wonderfully brutal and incredibly fun track, really enjoyed this!
6. Excommunicated has been released for a while now and it really is just a classic piece of Deicide music with incredibly fast drums, killer lead guitar work and gruesome riffing. I have played this song quite a lot and really love how it sounds like earlier Deicide stuff but with totally new and unique elements too such as the much tighter production, more rock and roll feel to some of the riffs and replenished morbidity in Glen Benton’s hideously renowned vocals. The lead work is excellent and balanced in a way that does not overshadow the rest of the music, something they have learned over time can work greatly to keep the momentum of a song. This is just some perfectly balanced Death Metal glory for a legendary band, coming back with style with some quality lyrics too!
7. Anointed in Blood really flows beautifully from the last track with intense melodic guitar work, rhythmic backing guitar and bass and very well played drums. The much tighter riffing just really hits so hard, while not being the most standout parts they are certainly incredible. This track really rips through the mix gorgeously, with perfect production and a sense of confidence in the songwriting and performance of the whole band! I cannot get over how many original yet brilliant guitar solos they are using, damn impressive.
8. Crucified Soul of Salvation almost feels like a Thrash Metal song the way it comes in but the gruellingly heavy assaults of badass Death Metal soon change that, there is no forgiveness or ask for patience with Deicide. They are after all a very straight forward band who just pack pure aggression and technicality into short pieces of total fury and carnage. The melodic progressions in this song are really uniquely catchy and original. Great work!
9. Defying the Sacred comes in with melodic and beautifully played lead guitar, a slower yet killer drum performance and groovy rhythm and bass sections. The hellish vocals soon join us once more and the classic Deicide groove is ever present, this sounds like something torn out of the bands earlier catalogue while also sounding completely original and unique. The gruesome assault of the track is so perfect as is the production of the song. This is such nail-bitingly exciting material. The track in essence is actually really catchy and has a slightly more progressive feel than most of them, great work! For me that stand out thing though is the fantastic guitar leads that really soar gorgeously with the song rather than over it, certainly making the whole track sound more incredible and standout.
10. Consumed by Hatred has a much more sinister feel to it that really pummels its way along with more classic Deicide vibes once more, taking the whole instrumental section in its stride and just forcing the listener to submit to the relentless riffing, blasts and fiery vocals that just show gloriously how well Deicide have held up. While a lot of classic bands can lose their touch or just stick doing one thing forever, Deicide fuse elements of their classic music but really let it grow and nurture the creative spark they have excellently. The track actually reminds me a little of one of my favourite Deicide songs “Trick Or Betrayed”!
11. Flesh, Power, Dominion thrashes into existence with fast paced, tight yet chaotic riffs and drums and just a full on assault once more from the heavyweights of death and morbidity. The ripping grooves and just pure unaltered hatred in the music has been untamed for so many years but never faltered or weakened, this song is a prime example of that. The guitar solos once more do not fail to impress. The pummelling drum attack is just brilliant and there is nothing about the song that stagnates despite the foundations being relatively simplistic, but I guess that can often work better than overcomplicating things. There are some really nice unexpected turns in the piece that kept me on my toes, amazing work!
12. Destined to Blasphemy finalises the newest slab of glory from Deicide, I am curious to see how they do it this time. From the very off it is evident with plenty of groove is the answer to my question. The beginning riff reminds me of “All That Is Evil” but it soon tears into tremolo fury and just all out ferocity, evidently trying to pack in one last gorgeous assault of just purely awesome Metal! Absolutely killer closing piece to a really wonderful album!

The return of legends can often spark either tons of excitement or disappointment from fans, in my humble opinion, excitement would be the more viable emotion for this release. Absolutely great to see the phenomenal band return with new and original material to add to their gruesome repertoire. -7.5/10