Diminishing Between Worlds

The second Decrepit Birth record is where the band finally decided to capitalize on the instrumental skill of its (now solidified) membership. Where the preceding album was a love note to Deeds Of Flesh and “Despise the Sun” era Suffocation; here lead guitarist Matt Sotelo plundered the catalog of Atheist, Cemetery, Death, latter day Pestilence and Watchtower in what can be charitably called one of the biggest about-face turns in death metal in recent memory. Not only is “Diminishing Between Worlds” more musical and technical than “…And Time Begins” – it is also the first where the band actually writes recognizable songs. Marred in the mastering process with a too low volume (which was duly rectified in later pressings) it became a breakthrough record for the band. After the album’s promotional campaign Decrepit Birth would depart from Unique Leader to sign with German conglomerate Nuclear Blast Records, along with a host of other similar bands.

Decrepit Birth’s transformation into a more musically refined and technically accomplished outfit was a welcome change from the soulless drab of its unremarkable debut. At least in part “Diminishing Between Worlds” initiated a movement within the California scene that had previously plain brutal (and uninteresting at that) death metal acts following in its footsteps in surprising numbers. Even established institutions as Deeds Of Flesh, Severed Savior and Vile were moving away from their patented sounds to pick up on the success of this album. Most notable from the debut is the increased influence from the likes of formative technical (death) metal acts Atheist, Death, post-“Consuming Impulse” Pestilence, Theory In Practice and Watchtower. For the first time Sotelo decided to play leads and solos, something he categorically refused to do on “…And Time Begins”. The songs are much more deliberately paced, and the band even attempts to add atmosphere to some of the more ambitious songs. That some of the songs are filled to the brim with ideas was to be expected, as was the fact that the execution is sometimes lacking. At least the band was attempting to infuse some life into the established (and by this point, tired and banal) California death metal sound.

It wouldn’t be too far off to say that “Diminishing Between Worlds” has Decrepit Birth, or composer Matt Sotelo at least, writing actual songs for the first time in his career – and not mere collections of random riffs and seemingly endless blasts. All these songs have a recognizable beginning, middle and end, which is a commendable evolution from the band’s unspectacular debut from a few years prior. The greater prominence and reliance on leads/solos allows for more open compositions, and even the bass guitar has become more important in the overall scope of things. Decrepit Birth is still not an “innovative” or “progressive” band by any stretch of the imagination, as they just moved from one trough to another – and don’t exactly hide from which bands they culled their inspiration this time around. If this sounds like “Testimony Of the Ancients”, “Nespithe” and “Individual Thought Patterns” played ten times faster, that’s exactly what it is. For the first time the band also attempted instrumentals with the tranquil ‘The Enigmatic Form’ and the forgettable outro ‘The Morpheus Oracle’. The former sounds like something off Pestilence’s experimental “Spheres” album, while the latter sounds like one of those latter day Morbid Angel interludes. Decrepit Birth however never get lost in its technicality and instrumental skill side-stepping the rake that has come to define Brain Drill, that other famously technical California death metal band, that they forget to write songs. “Diminishing Between Worlds” is an interesting exploration of the more sophisticated side of the death metal genre, and while modern in construction it at least remembers the tropes and conventions of the classic death metal era that preceded it.

Not all aspects of the band have undergone the same steep transformation. Vocally there is no evolution to speak of. Bill Robinson is still as bog standard and uninteresting as modern day death metal singers come. He is very much reminiscent of Rich Lipscomb (Fleshgrind) that way, although he is tonally closer to Matti Way. Robinson does enunciate better than most of his peers, but his performance reeks of stagnation. Both bass guitarist Derek Boyer and studio musician Tim Yeung had moved on since the debut, and they were replaced by members of local upstarts Odious Mortem later down the the line. Introduced on this record is drummer K.C. Howard, and his debut is as smooth as one could imagine. For the session Sotelo recorded all the bass guitar parts in the studio, while Joel Horner would handle the instrument in the live arena. All three tracks of the “2006 promo” are re-recorded here, along with a fairly redundant retake of the “…And Time Begins” title track, otherwise the record is entirely composed of new material. Once past the re-recorded ‘…And Time Begins’ the album and band regress back to a more primal state, which is surprising considering how musical the first half of the album was. The exception to this being ‘Essence Of Creation’ which merges both sounds flawlessly. In fact ‘Essence Of Creation’ is one of the greatest tracks on this outing, along with ‘Reflection Of Emotions’ and ‘Through Alchemy Bound Eternal’.

The hyperbolic fan reaction was understandable as California death metal never was the most interesting variation of the genre, but to call Decrepit Birth “progressive” and “innovative” is just intellectually dishonest. It should be expected that bands get better and more musical as they get older, it shouldn’t be treated as some unexpected rarity. As such “Diminishing Between Worlds” is a transitional record, and has the band finding its creative voice after a meddling debut. It is one of the better modern day death metal records, and it is not stifled by either a sterile production or a too single minded focus. While it was pivotal in getting the tired and tiring California death metal sound out of a self-imposed creative rut, the record isn’t nearly the genre-defining masterpiece it is made out to be. No. The foundation of this album was laid by truly adventurous albums from veritable progressive (death) metal units as Atheist, Cynic, latter-day Death, Pestilence, Theory In Practice and Watchtower. Decrepit Birth wrapped all these various influences in a contemporary package, and presented the goods with a crunchy modern sheen. Still, it is hardly the thing to call them progressive for. That’s just being competent, and conscious of the genre’s roots and history. Nothing more, nothing less.

“Diminishing Between Worlds” was mostly a home-recorded affair, much like the band’s 2003 debut. Matt Sotelo laid down rhythm/lead guitars, bass guitar, keyboards and vocals at his own Legion Studio. Drums were recorded at Castle Ultimate Studios with Zack Ohren, who also mixed and mastered the album. For the second time around a Dan Seagrave artwork was commissioned, and like the prior album it was released through California death metal specialist label Unique Leader Records. For the most part it is the end of an era for band and label alike, as Decrepit Birth would sign with major label Nuclear Blast Records, and Unique Leader was just a few years away from transforming into the populist deathcore-centric imprint they are today. “Diminishing Between Worlds” is the only record of its kind in terms of membership, as the Odious Mortem members would all take their leave around 2010-2011 in an exodus reminiscent of mid-era Dying Fetus, or 90s era Malevolent Creation. The duo of Sotelo and Robinson persisted, and eventually wrote a third record for their new label home.

The transition into more melodic and technical territory is handled well, and Decrepit Birth finally started living up to its potential through it. Still all of that doesn’t change that the album is unjustly lavished in hyperbolic praise. Sure, the album is leagues above the troglodyte debut, and vastly better than most of Unique Leader was putting on the market at the time, but records by Death, Pestilence and Theory In Practice that inspired this recording were widely available at the time of this album’s release. Progressive this band never was, just competent and cognizant of the technical (death) metal genre’s formative acts. The transformation Decrepit Birth has gone through is admirable to say the least – but records like these were produced during the 90s as well, which is a fact a lot of fans selectively choose to ignore. The album lasts a quarter of an hour, which is a good fifteen minutes longer than the debut (which barely lasted 30 minutes), and the songs are worked out to a more satisfactory degree. All of this makes it the better Decrepit Birth album, but still not the progressive death metal masterpiece the fandom and media make it out to be. It is competent and well-played, but hardly revolutionary.

Review originally written for Least Worst Option - www.leastworstoption.com

Call it Suffocation worship all you want, but it's still not changing the fact that this album is ridiculously original sounding, both in production quality and the music itself. In all honesty, this album is closer towards Death's 'Symbolic' having a baby with Nile's 'Annihilation of The Wicked', than anything. In fact, I hear more Cynic and Atheist in the lead and bass than Suffocation influences, but whatever, let's jump straight to the point.

The album opens up with a bang, on the song 'The Living Doorway'. 10 seconds in an the technical riffwork is all over the place, yet it still maintains it's brutal and often melodic status, without touching upon any wankery. Although some of the more technical riffs may appear unmemorable, ones seen on songs such as '...And Time Begins' are extremely catchy and won't get out of your head for a good while.

The less brutal parts of the album remain incredibly memorable and enjoyable, in fact, the song 'Dimensions Intertwine' has been stuck in my head weeks prior to listening to the album.That song is my second favourite in the album because of the overall excitement factor throughout, but the top spot belongs to 'The Enigmatic Form'. It's an incredibly atmospheric song, starting off with a soothing, relaxing, jazzy yet technical intro, that jumps into multiple lead guitars going off into their own directions, a solo, and a guitar part backed up by some more lead. That part most definitely hints at Death's 'Voice of The Soul', with an incredibly similar structure. Slowly towards the ending of the song, an immersive synth shows up, building up accompanied with blast beats, and eventually bursting into a solo dive that sounds almost exactly like something off of 'Symbolic'. The production makes everything sound very distinct from itself, and thanks to that the jazzy, then shreddy solo is backed up with bone crushing riffs and drumwork that go together almost too well.

Welp, after that song, that's all you'll hear of the soothing melodic stuff. From here and on it's nothing but immensely heavy and brutal riffs, as often seen on 'Essence of Creation' and '...And Time Begins'. Especially for the latter part, where the song consists of mainly nothing but awfully aggressive and violent guitar and basswork. Hardly audible yet still satisfying bass sweeps, which I actually have not heard in my first listen, but only discovered through a bass cover on youtube. That's a small minus on the production with bass, but other than that the bass seems fairly audible when it should be, emphasizing on slaps on breakdowns that occur occasionally. Another minus, could be the vocals; they're incredibly unique and no other band has vocals that could come anywhere near close in similarity to these, but the single tone of them loses their excitement after a while. As an overall summary to this, I simply have never, ever heard an album that could balance Melody and Brutality so perfectly well in a technical death metal record.

Sometime between the years of 2003 and 2008, as Decrepit Birth was plotting its sophomore assault for Unique Leader, Bill Robinson and crew realized that they were actually musicians, and not just fancy troglodytes who knew how to club their prey down at insane speeds. As a result, Diminishing Between Worlds was a dramatic improvement over ...And Time Begins, to the extent that one could argue the first track alone "The Living Doorway", possessed more musical value than the entire debut. A lot of this has come through the evolution of Matt Sotelo as a guitarist and all around musician: the man fucking OWNS this effort, employing more melodic, technical and varied guitar work in addition to bass lines that can be distinguished from the album's roiling, brutal undertow. And all of this was accomplished without sacrificing extremity! If anything, Diminishing Between Worlds is just as brutal as the debut, only in more than one way. It's as if prehistoric fireworks suddenly alighted the sky over a stolid, rocky ridge, and then molten inspiration began to flow free and disintegrate anything in its path.

Decrepit Birth was not alone in this transition, as a good number of the other Californian bands (Odious Mortem, The Faceless, Arkaik, Inherited Disease) also were making strides forward in musicianship and quality; but clearly they made a broader metamorphosis between albums, than, say, Severed Savior made between Brutality is Law and Servile Insurrection. While the first album drew almost entirely upon its Suffocation and Deeds of Flesh influences, Diminishing Between Worlds tries its hands at weaving threads of Death, Cynic and Atheist through its punishing foundations. While Robison's growl is the one constant binding it all together, the guitars are fucking frenetic to the point where Sotelo is often engaged in overmuch frivolous leads. He's certainly upped the ante with this 'big reveal' of ability, but more important to me than the indulgent, screaming lead sequences were the clinical melodies being invested into the rhythmic matrix. Radar! Radar! Other strings have been discovered on the guitar. Prepare antiaircraft measures on the double! Granted, there is a certain degree of wankery involved: almost like he succumbed to a Lawnmower Man level influx of ideas and couldn't contain all the newfound brilliance...not all the leads and melodies are very catchy...but even so, there is so much more of note(s) happening, a refined fusion/jazz undercurrent

Decrepit Birth had become compelling, folks, or at least, compelling to those who've an interested in this sort of 'all around package' of technicality and chops. Yes, that means if you fucking loathe death metal beyond Mortal Throne of Nazarene, Severed Survival and Slowly We Rot, then this is clearly not your cup of tea. And it wasn't just in the guitars. Matt's bass lines are smooth and complex, joined to the guitar melodies without merely 'following' them. Atmospheric synthesizers, often like distant choirs, are used sparsely as a background enhancement to the music's otherworldly nature, and clean guitars are introduced here in the instrumental "The Enigmatic Form". They had a new drummer for this, KC Howard, and he did a great job of following in Yeung's footsteps. Perhaps a fraction less agile, but his hard hitting really helps cover some of the aggression lost by the switch towards higher pitched notation, and he's just about as mechanical and monstrous as you'd find from this particular scene. Bill Robinson had also improved. His natural timbre wasn't all that different, but he sustains some great gutturals that decay off into the atmosphere, and the timing and percussion of individual verse lines seems more inviting to the imagination.

Most importantly, Diminishing Between Worlds is just fucking loaded with great riffs. The song quality is quite consistent throughout, and while they'll occasionally throw out a bland pattern or two, the majority of the melodic riffs continuously draw the ear. The song lengths are stretched to help contain this wealth of new ideas, but the album still clocks in at a tame 45 minutes, about 50% more than the barren debut. "Reflection of Emotions", "Dimensions Intertwine" and "Through Alchemy Bound Eternal" all beg the question: what might Suffocation have sounded like if Chuck Schuldiner joined their lineup in the late 90s and was given some serious creative input? The external and internal explorations of this sophomore seek to answer that question, emblazoned in cutting edge musicianship, and philosophical (if a bit bland and bordering on mumbo jumbo) lyrics. Not to say that this is perfect: it's not a personal favorite tech/progressive death metal effort, but clearly a switch turned on, the emergence of a bright voice in the genre. One that would grow slightly in intensity for the next album, Polarity, which was less of an overall evolutionary step, but ramped up the riffing quality even further.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

So here we have a few musicians who know their instrument exceptionally well, and seem to actually do a great job pulling in a substantial amount of followers. Obviously, like other bands with such skill, they are doing something right. This is unlike other technical bands like Brain Drill, who have just as many haters as followers. Decrepit Birth band seems to truly stick out as "good" to most people.

Not me, however. At first, I fucking hated the band. The vocalist seemed really bland (we'll get to that), the guitars seemed to just be everywhere for no reason, and the drums seemed to do nothing while at the same time doing a lot. The production and mix was good, but it was almost to clean, like I would enjoy it if they took a risk in the kind of distortion they used so it'd be less clean or even just straight up heavier.

Then I saw them live. When one see's a dude play an instrument so cleanly, and then one see's a very positive response from people, the person must at least try to realize that the band must be doing something right. And even more so; it isn't like they were getting undeserved credit. I could see that the musicians worked really hard on the music and put themselves at an extremely high standard. May I add, however, that although these things are true it doesn't negate the fact that I was in fact extremely bored by their set, and that the music did nothing for me.

And thus I realized my main problem with the only Decrepit Birth album I have, and furthermore their music in general; it just bores the living hell out of me. I hated them because I was searching for a "this is so fucking amazing moment" and just found blandness. Sure, from a musicianship perspective I do heavily appreciate them, but I feel like the creativity in the emotions put forth in their music absolutely lacks.

Firstly, the album has way too many goddam guitar solos that go nowhere. Call me someone part of the ADD generation, but the solos feel as if a professor is lecturing me about the impact the civil war in El Salvador and how it affected their cultural exports; I could really give less of a shit. I feel like every solo or soli went as follows; fuck around with a melodic line for about 10-15 seconds, let the screamer do his part for a bit less than a verse, then start doing to the same thing you were doing except don’t build it off of the previous melodies you made. Yeah- the two solos are in the same key and it doesn't sound like its wrong from a mechanical standpoint- but it doesn't really have anything to do with what the solo or soli was before. Decrepit Birth needs to learn how to make songs progress well from beginning to end. I get the feeling the guitarists may listen a lot of progressive rock and metal, but the difference between this and good prog stuff is that prog stuff generally can do an amazing job growing on someone through solos because everything moves together perfectly. If they could understand this I feel I would love this band.

However, more than that, I feel like the album can just become one long blur. Again with the lecturing analogy; have you ever been in a class and then spaced out when you suddenly realize that for the whole damn time you were spacing out the teacher was talking and your mind didn't even hear a single word he said? It's exactly how I feel some of these songs are. When there are so pauses and no breath spots then the album can become pretty damn boring. There's a few parts that give breathing room. For example, "Through Alchemy Bound Eternal" ends with a slam death metal riff that slows the tempo down a bit, giving me a chance to breathe and even perhaps notice the songs existence (this is if I'm spacing out). It's funny, because "...and time begins" does the exact same thing and it's the track right after this, so I guess these two tracks are the resting spots on this album. Other than that, there's not much rest for the listener.

The vocalist doesn't help with the blur either. As bland as this vocalist is, I really can't rag too much on him because of the amount of bands I listen to that have as much of a bland vocalist as Decrepit Birth (Beneath the Massacre, for example). However, I will say that the guy could be the last saving grace for my attention if he just would change up his voice a bit. It's not even that good of a scream that he's doing too. It's this mid pitch "roooooooooaaahh" that has no harshness or aggressiveness to it. At least Beneath the Massacre's vocalist no matter how bland he might be has an extremely pissed of blandness to his voice. This guy just sounds bored.

Bah- enough. Decrepit Birth could be great, but for now they really are lame and I can't really listen to their music without my mind pondering other things and not truly listening to them. I usually listen to the albums I review while I write the review so I can get specific on what I feel about the album. For this review, I hope you know that I had to constantly go back to check what track I was on. No clear definition of one song to the other; they all sounded the same.

I will attempt to write an unbiased review for this album, and I will fail completely. I suppose reviews are meant to be written from an outsider's perspective and to discuss the album in a fair, unbiased manner, but to hell with that. It will be made painfully obvious during this review that I fucking love this band, and I am not ashamed to write a review that cradles their balls AND strokes their shafts, as well as work their pipes and swallow the gravy when all is said and done (Tropic Thunder, thank you so much for that paraphrased quote).

Anyway . . .

"And Time Begins," while having awesome cover art (which a shirt I own happens to feature), really wasn't all that great. The name "Decrepit Birth" really meshed well with the music as heard on that album, but in 2008, Decrepit Birth decided, "hey, let's sound a.) more melodic and b.) better. Thus, "Diminishing Between Worlds."

They also said, "hey, let's open the album with a bang." By "bang," I mean "The Living Doorway." All the songs on the entire preceding album aren't as good as this, featuring shredding out the ass, gorgeous solos, high quality drumming and adequate vocals. This album does not falter; it's consistent all the way through, a trait that any great album has. "The Living Doorway" isn't the only great song; "Reflection of Emotions," its follow-up, is even better. The instrumental "The Enigmatic Form" presents a welcome change in dynamics, opening quietly and calmly, serving as a small respite to the constant shredding and blasting. The final two songs end the album quite nicely, and leave the listener wanting more. An album truly succeeds if it leaves the listener's mouth agape, salivating and yearning- nay, craving more, which this album does.

This is undoubtedly a guitar album. It's dominated by riffs and solos. For a guitarist or guitar lover, every song has something to love, whether it be a cool riff, a solo, or a particularly awesome melody. The drums more or less do what drums were originally meant to do, which is keep a beat and maintain the pace for the album. Bass, I can imagine, follows the guitar (kudos, if that's the case), but beyond that, it serves little to no purpose. Vocals are standard, but well performed, death metal vocals, strictly staying in the low range, with no real screams to be found. Whatever. With guitar work as good as it is here, it's hard to knock the other guys. Good job, Bill Robinson and K.C. Howard (no bassist because the bass tracks were composed and performed by lead guitarist/mastermind Matt Sotelo).

The million dollar question is this: would I blow Matt Sotelo? Pour enough alcohol down my throat and probably. Hyperbolas aside, Matt Sotelo is a fucking master. If his playing is any indicator of his knowledge of scale and theory, he is a genius and knows almost everything guitar-related. That being said, he uses his knowledge not to rip your jaw off like other shallow technical death metal bands, but to compose something beautiful. Much like a Dali painting, his work is surreal and otherworldly, despite being (unlike Dali) feasible and easily understood. However, this does not mean he doesn't have his sporadic, spastic freak-out moments, like at approximately 1:40 into "A Gathering of Imaginations," where he convulses and sweeps like a maniac. When done sparingly, masturbatory showmanship is acceptable, especially when paired with the other (again with this upcoming word, seeing as how I can't think of another word to use) beautiful guitar work found on this release. Despite the melody and technical musicianship found here, Sotelo also plays a few legitimate death metal riffs and slow, slamming parts, as you can hear 0:40 into "Through Alchemy Bound Eternal" for one such example. Matt Sotelo: you're shit doesn't stink, and you are the man.

The drums are dreadfully triggered, but this is so common nowadays in the death metal community that I can't bitch all too much about it. Yes, it'd be nice to hear a more organic-sounding performance fromK.C. Howard, but he still gave a good performance on this album. He's quick as hell. If Tim Yeung's Superman sperm didn't destroy whatever lucky lady it happened to be entering, and said lady birthed Yeung's spawn, and said spawn decided to take after his father and play the drums, he would sound like K.C. Howard. Howard, despite having a slightly different style than Tim Yeung, is about as precise with his blasts and double bass as a metronome (perhaps due to the triggers, whatever, he's a good drummer). Aside from that, his performance is rather standard to death metal, but it provides for this album a proper sound. Bass, as mentioned before, isn't there, practically, save for a few moments and "The Enigmatic Form."

Okay, so why would I give this album a 95/100 if the only truly great thing about the album is the guitar? Well, the drums and vocals are adequate enough, yes, but the guitar work is out-of-this-world good, in case you didn't read the fourth and fifth paragraphs (assuming we don't count "Anyway . . ." as a paragraph). It's good enough to give this album the high score it has, as according to me. As far as melody goes, this is one of the best guitar-driven albums ever. And if it's not a classic, it's still a damn good album that will make an old-school late 80s death metalhead reminisce about Death's later work. Any guitarist or listener who hears the guitar before the other instruments (not unlike myself) will undoubtedly find themselves cracking a smile or smirk at least once during this album, courtesy of Matt Sotelo's brilliance. Can Decrepit Birth top this fantastic album with their next effort "Polarity"? We shall see. In the meantime, enjoy yourself and get lost in the otherworldly maze that is "Diminishing Between Worlds." You will not be disappointed.

I have a well known love for generic brutal and/or technical death metal as long as it doesn't bore me very much. Despite the flaws, I'll take Hour of Penance, Necrophagist, and Origin over Human Filleted, Scrambled Defuncts, or Beheaded any day. This salad shooter, blast-tastic, Unique Leader brand of technical death metal that has gotten so popular as of late has its share of worthy and shitty bands just like any genre, but the line between the two kinds is a bit blurrier. On the surface, the three I mentioned as being good examples aren't very fundamentally different that the crappy three. Maybe it's because the ones I don't like (HF and SD especially) sound like Suffocation and nothing more, or maybe it's because the ones I considered better are faster and cleaner. It's hard for me to describe precisely why albums like, say Cryptic Implosion are better than albums like Ominous Bloodline. But as with every rule, there is one exception... I can tell you without a modicum of uncertainty why Decrepit Birth's Diminishing Between Worlds kicks the collective ass of damn near all its contemporaries.

The main thing that stood out to me upon first listen is the band's mastery of melody, something most groups of their ilk seem to shun in favor of unrelenting devastation. Be it a quasi interlude like "The Enigmatic Form" or the tsunami-esque "Reflections of Emotions", the album retains a strong sense of melody above the insane drum patterns and lightning fast riffs underneath. The most poignant influence I hear is, without a doubt, The Sound of Perseverance era Death. The more progressive and melody driven sound of Schuldiner's soloing on said album was obviously a major force in the songwriting here, as a lot of the songs sound like beefed up TSOP throwaways. Much like Destruction and their riffs, even the Death songs that don't make the cut are good enough for another band to pick up and personalize. I swear I hear parts of "Voice of the Soul" in "The Enigmatic Form" and "Flesh and the Power it Holds" in the title track. The dandy thing is that Decrepit Birth are able to work this blatant worship into their own melodic tech death formula well enough for me to not hold it against them like I do to so many Suffocation clones. Also, these guitar players must have burned off every nerve ending in their fingertips while writing and rehearsing for this album alone, as the leads and solos are virtually non stop. Yeah, the percussion is relentless and all, but the guitar wizardry sticks out the most.

However, even if your dog is an expert hunting dog and won the Westminster dog show for best in class, you still have to roll up a newspaper and deliver some punishment when he eats the cake you stupidly left on the counter or poos on the carpet. What that means is that even though Decrepit Birth does a whole slew of things right and essentially schools most of the genre frontrunners, they still drop the ball in a few aspects. One is the general variation between tracks. This is an odd one considering there are two instrumental interludes, one rerecorded track from their less melodic (and frankly less interesting) days, and a good chunk of memorable guitar lines within each song, but overall the album is faceless and lacks enough diversity to keep me coming back for a quickie. Diminishing Between Worlds is great if you have enough time to burn through the entire record, but is actually lacking when it comes to individuality within itself. The fact that there isn't a real standout track in an album I obviously like usually means that the album as a whole is very strong, but here the fact that there are a few differing styles of tracks means something else. It shows that the band can do different things, but they can't do any of them as well as they can do the one superficial aspect. Their mastery of leadwork and melody carries every track, but nothing else is nearly as good as that particular thing. There are no real riffs to speak of, the vocals come from the Pierced from Within era Frank Mullen school of DM vocals and they're fairly inconsequential, and the drumming, while good, is nothing special considering every percussionist in the modern tech death scene is apparently an android who can drum at pant shittingly high speeds with jaw dropping precision. Also, the rerecording of "...And Time Begins" is stupid and doesn't warrant inclusion if you ask me. It dates back to their first album when they were little more than one of the shameless Suffocation clones I loathe so much, so it noticeably lacks the virtuosity and heavy melodies of the rest of the album.

Regardless of those two issues, this is still a very worthy addition to any fan of the modern tech death scene or later era Death. Most of the tracks sound very similar, but the band's insane guitar work lifts every other aspect of the band to above the level of mediocrity in which they'd otherwise wallow. Maybe I'm just a hair brained mouth breather, but the fretboard wizardry is enough to impress me and actually distract me from the things Decrepit Birth isn't spectacular at. I like to think of it as less of the band dangling something shiny over something bland and see it more as a woman with a decently attractive face and bland personality, but with enormous tits. Diminishing Between Worlds is little more than just The Sound of Perseverance on steroids down at its core, but the band wrote it at the perfect time when it got big and muscular, but its balls haven't shrank yet.

Is it just me, or does this new Decrepit Birth album sound a hell of a lot like the old Decrepit Birth album?

...

Yes, it probably is just me. I mean that the songwriting style is very much along the same lines, as in: it's an onslaught of stuff that sounds sort of like the stuff from ten seconds ago, only slightly modified. Change is constant and there's little repetition, but abrupt changes are rare, so a certain amount of continuity is maintained while still being pretty confusing. Decrepit Birth's debut was along those lines, but done in a brutal-type fashion, whereas this is in a more Chuck Schuldiner-type fashion, which people seem to prefer, being more receptive to traditional melodies, I guess.

As if to prove me right, the band re-recorded the title track from the debut, and with some slight modifications it fits in pretty well with everything else. Some bits of the song “Through Alchemy Bound Eternal” seem to be made of recycled materials as well. The biggest change in the band, to me, is the addition of solos, although the tone of the music has lightened considerably as well. This album has some of the most misplaced death metal vocals this side of The Dark Knight.

Ready the firing squad, but I'd honestly rather listen to this than, say, later Death, or most of the other progressive/intelligent/open-minded sorts of death metal bands that the new-and-possibly-improved Decrepit Birth are compared to, since Decrepit can beat nearly all of them for unpredictability, while still remaining cohesive and listenable. I know it sounds perverse, but I often enjoy music the most when I can't keep track of what the hell's supposed to be happening. Decrepit Birth don't follow normal verse-chorus procedure, but they're not random on purpose, either – for the most part. There are a couple of noodly progressive bits dropped in that were possibly motivated by a desire to show that they're not “just” a death metal band. Eh.

They don't seem to be random on accident, either, or at least, the music's easy enough to follow after a couple of listens. Some of the simple melodies hidden amidst the fretboard meltdown are pretty catchy, and they get transformed throughout the song. Hey, motives! So, the songs sort of sound like individual things, and not just four-minute edits of various interchangeable guitar excerpts, though I do get to points where I wish something other than “didlididlididli” would happen.

A final note to the band: I appreciate it when death metal artists get away from childish fantasy stuff in their lyrics and write about real-world topics that I can relate to on a personal level... so please stop writing philosophical lyrics and do some songs about necrophilia and murdering Christians, thanks. Otherwise, pretty nice work overall.

I can’t say I was enamored by the previous effort from Decrepit Birth, “…And Time Begins”, as it was a fairly standard collection of old-school Florida death metal blast beats, growled vocals and tremolo picked guitar riffs. The idea of progress isn’t lost though, even on those from the old-school who might hold steady to the tried and true.

The word “progress” couldn’t be more apt, as “Diminishing Between Worlds” shows a band that morphed from old-school Florida death metal to full on Montreal progressive death metal. Yes, you read that correctly. While Decrepit Birth hails from California, they have that whole Montreal progressive death metal sound, coming close to Neuraxis.

The album is a full on riff-to-run, guitars dueling from playing off one another with different lines to merging into harmonized running, jumping back into riffs, all supported by double-bass drum galloping/blasting and a low/mid-ranged growl. It’s all well done from a skill standpoint, but the songs do tend to blur together as the song tempos are pretty similar, sticking to quick territory with some immediate speed-ups or slowdowns, with a hook or a stab here and there.

Personally I was into the album, but as a reviewer I had to step back for a moment. I’ve noticed that reviewers from other sites and publications go pretty easy on death metal albms. Likely it’s under the idea that the band is being judged by other how they’d be viewed by death metal fans on how they execute their style, but I had to put some significant thought forth, as is death metal really only for death metal fans? In fact, it’s become a viable form of art and expression, with a good amount of bands going beyond the standard death metal cliches of the past. Nowadays regular people have the odd death metal album or several sticking out like sore thumbs in their off-beat music collections. If I go easy on this album, isn’t it kind of like treating death metal bands, and the whole genre like I’m handling them with kid gloves? “Don’t worry guys, we’ll go easy on you because your just death metal”. Hmm… suddenly going easy on a genre actually seems disrespectful when you get down to the nitty-gritty of it.

I have conversations about album reviews with people all the time, and you know what? While I might beat an album up and give it a 60, I think it’s still a decent album which a listener will likely enjoy if they got it knowing what they’re getting into. So while I was originally going to give “Diminishing Between Worlds” a 70, I have to say that there’s already quite a few progressive death metal bands out there, and the sonic output of “Diminishing Between Worlds” is a bit too close to the output from Neuraxis. Still not bad though.

Originally posted at www.waytooloud.com

When I heard they had a new album out I was hesitant to listen to it. I heard the first album and I liked it a bit but it just blended into itself and other bands of the same ilk. My musical pallet grew from the time I heard their first full length and this and I had heard they had gotten more technical. So giving them the benefit of the doubt I checked it out, and was glad I did.

I liked Death, but their music lacked balls tone wise. I love Atheist and Cynic, if you mix those two bands (more so Cynic), and Death empowered with a thicker sound this would be it? Not entirely though, they do fit into that sort of niche but they retained their vocal style, they have their own sort of vocals, its raspy but discernible at the same time, kinda if David Vincent drank a bunch of soda before he recorded. This is immediately noticeable in the first track. Not only is that but the drumming is better, as well as the guitar work, matter of fact, everything was.

While listening to it I loved the power that it emitted, a lot of bands in the technical genre (case in point Necrophagist), HAVE NO POWER AT ALL! What they make up for in articulated notes, they lack in crunch and drive and most of all, LOW END! The production quality and mixing is awesome, its clear the notes are like crystal, the drums are even and don't bleed through into anything, the bass is pronounced and mixed in quiet well, and the vocals are at just the right frequency to make this really enjoyable to listen to, because nothing is too harsh.

Some of the arrangements like "Dimensions Intertwine", with its arpeggiated soaked intro, "The Enigmatic Form", taken right from the book of FOCUS, and "A Gathering Of Imaginations" grab you right away. I know that if the intro to the song doesn't interest me it will take awhile till I get to listen to the whole thing, and these songs don't disappoint the entire time. The musicianship, mixed with the song writing, and the variation they throw at you is like a audio roller coaster.

Anyone who is a fan of Cynic, Atheist, Death, Pestilence, Between The Buried and Me or even Mahavishnu Orchestra, or just good music in general should pick this album up, it is interesting, it is fast paced, it is well thought out, well mixed, and it's just enjoyable. Also did I mention, if you are tired of the same old immature, uneducated Putrid Pile style gore lyrics or Deicide-esq pseudo-satanic "wanna be" lyrics, this is for you, the lyrics are of a more philosophical approach.

Here's an album that most Death Metal bands have been waiting for a long time. Since the release of their first album, "And Time Begins", which hit the scene like a sledgehammer, fans have been awaiting the second onslaught from Decrepit Birth. The first album boasted extremely technical guitar work, and the drum duties were handled by none other than Tim Yeung. Combined with the vocals of Bill the end result was a lesson in brutality a lot of bands looked up to and drew inspiration from.

Even before the release of "Diminishing Between Worlds", fans knew that this second album would be much more melodic and musical than the first one. Matt Sotelo posted a few sample clips on YouTube, and even though they were more melodic and featured killer guitar solos, most fans still seemed to be pleased, even though it was quite apparent that the band was going to be changing direction. For better or for worse? Well, after listening to both albums back to back, I can easily say that "Diminishing Between Worlds" completely blows "And Time Begins" out of the water. Though the first album was a great success and featured many awesome moments (and half a million riffs, it seems), the production on it was pretty bad, and the whole thing sounded quite sterile. It didn't have much soul to it. All it had to offer was extreme brutality, speed, and technicality. Though the end result was quite impressive, "Diminishing Between Worlds" offers the listener so much more.

The drumming, for example, is a prime example of how tasteful Death Metal drumming should be. Instead of blasting his way through the whole album, KC Howard took the time to write some very memorable and awesome drum parts for the album. I'm also quite sure that Matt has left a few fingerprints on the composition of the drum tracks as well, because they fit with the music so well. The second thing which stands out, or actually the first, is the incredible display of guitar mastership and dominance which shines like a radiant star throughout the entire album. Matt has always been known to be an avid Chuck Schuldiner fan, and here his influences really cut through. The third thing worth mentioning is that the vocals aren't as dominating on this record. In fact, they've been toned down quite a lot. Most of the time they feel like they've been intentionally pushed back so the music can do all of the talking. So does it?

Hell yes.

The very moment "The Living Doorway" launched out of your speakers, you just know what awaits you for the rest of the album. It's pure Death Metal bliss, recorded and played with the precision of a razor blade. Among all of the Death Metal carnage, we have graceful guitar lines perfectly complemented by the superb drumming. At 1:24, we can witness a truly spectacular sequence where the Schuldiner influences shine through, and it's a perfect build up for the guitar solo. So how does Matt handle lead duties? Lets just say that I haven't heard leads this great on a Metal album since Control Denied’s "The Fragile Art of Existence". It sings, it sustains, it shreds. You can tell that Matt (who also recorded the rhythm guitar tracks on the album) spent a LOT of time on this thing, crafting and arranging everything to perfection. At 3:33 we witness yet another outstanding guitar solo, and the final note brings up the hairs on the back of my neck. The song then transcends into the final section, closing in a most spectacular manner.

By this time, I was thinking that if this is the way the entire album is going to be, then this just might end up being one of my favorite albums of all time. Could they sustain this for the rest of the tracks?

The answer is yes, yes they can, and they did. Not only did they fucking sustain it, they fucking surpassed it with "Reflection of Emotions", easily one of my favorite tracks on the album. It starts off with a nice guitar melody which fades from out of nowhere, then launches in a melodic Death Metal assault. The guitar work is just everywhere, Matt really must have had his Wheaties before entering the studio. It's just non-stop. The first solo kicks in at 0:36, and this one has again the Schuldiner influences and a very dream like feel to it. And if you though that was good, listen to the lead at 0:57! It just never ends, each lead being better than the last on you heard just 10 seconds ago. And yet, another lead section at 1:39. You people see where I'm getting at? This thing is just a great big .zip file which only holds the best ever materiel that Matt has ever written, no bullshit included. As the moments pass by, which there is never a dull one I can assure you, you finally reach 2:20, one of the most incredible sections on the entire album. The riff played under the first lead is just as good as the guitar solo itself - it's simply flawless and simply a pleasure to listen to. The first solo is performed exceptionally well, and the second one is just as superb, and a tad more melodic, wheras the third one is mostly just full on shred. One thing I'd really like to point out that the drumming on the solo sections are also very well thought out. Instead of random blasting and other crap most drummers do when the guitarist solos, simply because they don't know how to play along to it, simply cannot be found here. The drum parts during the solo section are extremely well thought out, and they complement the rhythm and lead guitar in the best possible fashion imaginable. Ever sat there and thought "I could think of a better drum part for that section"? Well, here you can't really say that, as it's been done for you. At 3:41 we witness the final guitar solo for this track, and it sings it's melodies through your skull. This whole track is nothing short of breath taking. The lyrics too, are quite impressive and probably the best on the entire album.

Now it's time for the title track, which is in some ways another step up from the previous track. Everything just keeps getting better and better, though of course this also has a lot to do with your ears and mind adjusting to the music as you listen to it. That being said though, this song is truly a gem polished to it's highest possible degree - the guitar playing and drumming is second to fucking none, and it's all been arranged in a way that you just go "WOW" at the whole thing. It launches with a nice little classical sequence, then sets off into completely different territories until picking it back up again at 0:23, which is another Schuldiner influenced sequence. Matt kicks into the first lead at 0:47, then another awesome little melodic section before firing the whole thing up again. The entire thing peaks at 1:18, and the riffing here is nothing short of orgasmic. Accompanied by the simply flawless drumming, it's a lesson of how kick drums should be used. A blistering guitar line slices through your speakers at 1:34, and it's actually not a guitar line, it's part of a great big guitar solo that has started it's way into life. The first lead boasts and incredibly memorable section at 1:42, then immediately launches into the second lead right after, which can be considered as an extension of the first lead. The third guitar solo is more face melting shred, but not as memorable as the first or second ones. You might think that with all these leads, where the hell is the Death Metal? Well, it's simply all over the place, laid down deep in the arrangements. For example the section at 2:22 should please most if not all Death Metal fans with it's brutal riffing and blasts, so make no mistake, it's all here. It's just done in such a way that it's possibly quite hard for the average listener to digest all at once. Think of this album as a great big melting pot of all forms of quality music and thrown into the same place, but they've been mixed up and arranged in such a way that it creates a truly unique and original sound. This track also features a clean guitar section, once again very dreamlike, at 2:50. This continues until 3:04, when 2 more guitar solos are laid out for good measure. The whole thing is cemented by a great little guitar passage, and at 3:36 we have the final guitar solo for this song. I didn't count them all, but that a lot of fucking guitar solos for not just a Death Metal song, but for any song. And the best part is that none of them will bother you or your listening experience since they hold an importance for the overall structure of the song. So in short, none of the leads here are simply done for the sake of playing leads. They all represent something and are an integral part of the overall song.

One thing which is well worth mentioning is that the lyrics on this album (or the first album, for that matter) aren’t your usual Death Metal gibberish. The lyrics are very well written and touch on subjects such as thoughts, time, existence, etc, rather than gore and mutilation. This of course, makes for not only a great listening experience, but a great reading experience, too. This is the perfect type of album you would want to listen to on headphones, reading along with the lyrics in the booklet.

“Dimensions Intertwine” kicks out of your speakers next, and you’re once again greeted with a very nice, original guitar riff. However, after the intro, things do not go as well as they did on the other tracks. Not to rip on the song, but the first three tracks were of such high brilliance that this one seems to be eclipsed by them. Some very interesting guitar and drum work here, but it just doesn’t seem to have the magic of what we heard just prior to this. Of course, it could just be me and many people may love this track, but for me it doesn’t really stand out.

“The Enigmatic Form” sees the band quickly redeem themselves by treading into previously unknown waters. An all instrumental track, it starts off with a very nice clean guitar intro, followed nicely with the drums and bass. The song does pick up momentum with some heavy parts later on, and the section at 1:12 is well worth noting. However, the section of 1:22 is definitely where this song shines, and the guitar solo takes it to a whole new level. The section at 2:17 paves way for another interesting slab of Metal as we have some synths now, and a more frantic feel, which is a nice interlude to the spectacular guitar solo. Overall, the entire song is very unique, and a nice departure from the rest of the album.

“A Gathering of Emotions” introduces some of the best guitar work on the album. The guitar harmonies are all over the place, and they are very well balanced and they complement each other really well. Hats off to Matt who really took the time to perfect everything about the guitars on this album, it really shows. The songwriting here is especially fluid, each section flows into the next with minimal effort. The song suddenly shifts gear with the solo section which kicks in at 1:34. Once again, expertly played, and anyone who is a fan of Death/Control Denied type material will really be getting into this. The rest of the song features more guitar solos and a truly epic outro. Overall, another jewel in this fantastic disc.

“Through Alchemy Bound Eternal” is more in the vein of older Decrepit Birth material. Here, the focus is more on brutality rather than melody, though this song boasts some incredible melodic sections and leads as well. Really abstract songwriting to be found here, and you never really quite know where the song is going to take you next, though once you reach your destination, it always seems to make sense. Very adventurous song writing, and very high quality all around.

Next up we have a re-recording of the title track from the first album, “And Time Begins”, and what a pleasure it is to listen to with this new and richer production. Everything can be heard quite clearly as opposed to the original recording. The drums are quite impressive, though not every fill Tim Yeung performed on the original was re-created. All in all, a fantastic re-recording, though in all honesty I didn’t really see the need of why it had to be put on this album. It seems to be out of place a little bit, and interferes with the overall fluidity of the album.

What we have here next is another gem entitled “Await the Unending”, a relentless slab of Death Metal, polished and perfected to extremely high standards. The guitar solo here is a definite highlight, and one of the best on the entire album. Very melodic and played masterfully, it is accompanied with some very tasteful and progressive rhythm guitar work underneath. The rest of the song is a rollercoaster which seems to speed off into every direction imaginable, but not straying very far from the new formula which Decrepit Birth has established on this album. All in all, another very impressive track which a delight to listen to as it still comes across as very refreshing, even though it’s one of the last songs on the album.

“Essence of Creation” is another track with heavy Schuldiner influences, and that’s not a bad thing if you like the style. Delicate guitar work is scattered all over the place, and the riffs and overall song structure is once again well though out. The vocals don’t really capture your attention – that’s being held by the guitars and drums. That being said, some of the best melodic riffs are to be found on this track. Take 5:39, for example.. the guitar work is just genius. Keeping in mind that the song is six and a half minutes long, there is a LOT to listen to, a lot to hear, and a lot to digest. Not only that, but the entire thing is so layered that you will need to come back to each and every song several times before you can fully appreciate and understand them, and I love that about this album.

“The Morpheus Oracle” sees the album slowly transcend to it’s final glorious moments. It’s a well thought out and a proper outro to end a truly proper and kick ass Death Metal album.

In conclusion, this album simply must be obtained, no exceptions. If you’re a fan of Metal and you like fantastic guitar work, this album will do you no wrong. You’ll have a hell of a hard time finding something better or more impressive than this. This is quite simply, hands down, one of the best Death Metal albums ever made. One thing I also love about this album is that it’s very layered, meaning that you will be able to listen to it over and over again and discover new things about it all the time. Lots of hidden gems throughout waiting to be discovered. My only gripe, though quite a small one, is that the vocals are mostly lost in the mix. Some may prefer this, some may not, and I still don’t know what to think about that fact. This is definitely a music dominated album, rather than vocals. They are still there of course, though you may need to strain a little or really listen to them to fully appreciate what Bill is doing. But for me, I would say that’s a very minor thing. I wouldn’t touch or want a single note of this album to be changed – it’s quite flawless.

Some people are actually complaining, that this album is not as heavy or brutal as the first one. Well, they're right - it's not as heavy nor as brutal as their debut. But who cares? This honestly beats the living shit out of "And Time Begins" in every which way possible. The songwriting, the performances, the soul, the feel, the production - it totally lays waste to their first effort. This album is the sign of a band who has progressed instead of regressed, and in todays Metal scene, that's no easy feat to pull off with your dignity intact. And Decrepit Birth have done it all, in fucking spades, so much respect to them.

I’ve seen a lot of reviews for this album lately, on this site or otherwise, that call this album “same sounding and generic”, and “uninspired”. Now I have no idea what these people have been listening to, but if every technical death band sounded this good, I would be in raptures of pleasure all the fuckin’ time. “Tame” is also a word used to describe this album, apparently implying that it is lacking in “atmosphere”, or some such pretentious shit. It seems to me that the average metalhead may have something lacking in terms of being able to understand subtlety, something that used very much in this album.

Unfortunately, this album tends to get a lot of flak for “not being brutal enough”, which is like calling someones lawn “not green enough”. The brutality is there in abundance, even if it isn’t the same “downtune the fucker and play the same note over and over” variety which seems to be plaguing the brutal death community.

But, enough of that, it’s time to talk about the music. The guitar work is nothing short of amazing, weaving riff after riff of intricate melody, as some might be surprised to learn that you can be both melodic AND brutal at the same time. Believe me, this is nowhere near your typical Gothenburg garbage, the leads are fluid and organic, and at the same time sterile and stiff, lurching from one time signature to the next, inhuman in both it’s precision and speed.

The bass, which is clearly audible for the most part, is ridiculously good, nice and chunky, and not so downtuned you can’t tell what’s going on. The relationship between the guitars and the bass in this album is amazing, together flowing into and out of each other, creating a soundscape of truly massive proportions.

The drumming is stupendous, moving through said soundscape like an angry beast looking for something to maul. Almost never the same thing is done twice in this album, and the drums are no different. Blisteringly fast, and almost impossible to follow, one cannot escape the conviction that there is an octopus wielding the sticks. And of course, blast beat after facesplitting blast beat that will make your ears bleed and your heart stutter, which no brutal death album is complete without.

In short, this is a true classic. And although I can see this heading the way of Wormed’s Planisphaerium, in the way of both extremely divided opinions and cult status, if you like death metal, than give this a listen. It definitely isn’t for the faint of heart, nor your typical Mortician lover, but until you listen to this, you haven’t heard perfection.

Decrepit Birth got a lot of publicity for their debut, both positive and negative, and I ended up hearing this one first. It is with great disdain that I admit that this sucks, the band having gone from the tolerable-but-mediocre Suffocation worship of the debut to a half-assed "technical" style that sounds like a case of worship of every single band that ever played the style before them - Atheist, Cynic, late-era Death, Necrophagist, et cetera forever, but rest assured, it is all there to some degree. It would be one thing if this were good Tech Death, but it's not. In fact, I can barely even listen to this awful, awful crap without wishing I were deaf.

Picture the most generic Technical Death Metal you can think of. Chuggy, hollow, angular riffs that only stop for the odd flourish of 70s-style psychedelic melody and/or a guitar solo that goes on forever, odd time signatures, monotonous roars from behind the mic, and lame "insightful" lyrics that will inevitably get praised for being "more than the usual gore-fest lyrics!" by people who don't know what they're talking about. Now remove any semblance of good or even listenable songwriting ability, and you've got this album. Every single song sounds the same, all running together into a steaming pile of convoluted garbage, never varying in tempo or tone. Seriously, Atheist and Cynic. Both good bands, and both bands that this album clearly draws influence from, but those bands wrapped their technical/melodic excesses around already stellar songs, whereas Decrepit Birth don't even have any songs to wrap those excesses around in the first place. I can almost feel Chuck Schulnider rolling over in his grave down there.

And now the final nail in Decrepit Birth's coffin: this has got to be one of the tamest, most inoffensive Death Metal albums I've ever heard, and that ultra-melodic, fluffy production job doesn't help. Where's the anger? Where's that bubbling, vile, putrid sense of hatred that should seep from this like toxic bile from a rusty, skull-and-crossbones can? Fuck, come on Decrepit Birth, if you're not going to write any good songs, at least bash your shitty songs out with some fucking conviction, or just shut up and go back to packing meat at the supermarket.

Good God, this really sucks.

Originally written for http://www.metalcrypt.com

I, like some other reviewers, was not a huge fan of ...And Time Begins, Decrepit Birth's first album. It just seemed like generic brutal death metal. However, because I know a huge Decrepit Birth fan, this album ended up on my computer, and I decided to give it a listen.

After the first song, which floored me, all I could think was, "Holy shit, that's powerful." There is so much raw emotion in the album. You can tell just from the first few songs, which sometimes break out, seemingly randomly, into extremely fast solos. This definitely gives off a huge wave of emotion, but it's hard to describe exactly what it's like.

So, the album has quite a bit of Death influence, and this really is awesome. A few of the solos can remind you of Chuck, but I think Matt Sotelo did a good job of sounding like Chuck without actually totally ripping him off. Note though, that he obviously doesn't do this all the time, just a few riffs and solos. Matt is most certainly an amazing guitarist. He can play quickly, he can play technically and, most importantly, he can play "from the soul", as cheesy as that sounds. The riffs are much more melodic than DB's old stuff, with quite a few melodic death-ish riffs in there, but they're not bad by any means.

KC Howard... Fuck. Absolutely incredible. The drum sound on the album is perfect. You can always hear the drums, but they never take over the music. It's easy to just listen to the drums only if you want, which is actually great to do, because the drums are so incredible. He always managed to keep you interested, but the way he supports the rest of the band is really where he shines. He knows what to play, and exactly when to play it. Plus he can just play really fast, which is always great.

Bill's vocals are quite good. They fit the mood of the album perfectly, sounding somewhat distant. There are a few instances where I wish he wouldn't talk, such as the solo in the "The Living Doorway" but other than that I think he's a talented vocalist. Unfortunately, I have not been able to read the lyrics, but I can pick up a bit of what Bill says, but I suppose that's not enough to judge the lyrics.

There is really not a weak track on the album. The instrumental "The Enigmatic Form" is very cool, it even has a weird black metal-ish part which I thought was cool. The tracks keep the same sound, but at the same time each track is easily distinguishable. Overall, the album is seriously god damn amazing, easily one of the best death metal releases in YEARS.

As I start this review I find myself in the awkward position on not wanting to come off as a Decrepit Birth fan-boy. I’m going to try my best to stay as objective, which may prove to be a complicated task. This, dare I say, is an amazing album. With a name like Decrepit Birth you would think that the band is only creating a lot of extremely punishing death metal. You would be wrong. Though they are extremely brutal, they are also very talented, making them one hell of a technical death metal band. Like all really good tech death bands these guys exhibit flourishes of jazz infused metal chops. Let me back up a minute, I’m getting ahead of myself. Until 3 days ago all I knew of Decrepit Birth was from their Myspace page. The only music of theirs that I had heard were the select tracks they have posted there (3 of which are from the new album). I was interested though, knowing KC Howard was their drummer and finding myself liking his other band, Odious Mortem’s latest release more and more since I got it several months ago. What changed 3 days ago? I saw them open for Hate Eternal, 3 inches of Blood and The Black Dahlia Murder at the Palladium in Worcester, MA. Though the band was plagued by horrible sound during their set (which was most likely just the venue itself and the opening slot equals bad sound syndrome), I could hear through the mix and what I heard was some great guitar playing and what I saw was a whirlwind of non-stop madness behind the drums. I already had intentions to pick up their new album, Diminishing Between Worlds, when it’s released next week (1/29), and then to my surprise the band was selling it at their merch table. So on my way out of the show that night, I stopped and bought it from none other than Bill Robinson, their vocalist. I told him I enjoyed their set, which is true despite the sound, and he seemed genuinely appreciative that I was buying the CD and I was on my way. Dreading the nearly 3 hour drive home from the show (which may seem like a lot, but for an opportunity to see Hate Eternal, it was worth it) I was excited to have some new tunes to listen to. I put in the CD and off I went. I wasn’t expecting what I got, which was blown away. I cranked the thing and listened to it all the way through, 3 times (and several more times since). Other than thinking I was going to hear technical death metal with some pretty cool drumming I had no expectations, I had an open mind about what I was going to hear.

I’m still refining my review writing skills and I know I have a tendency to be long winded, but I’m going to give it my best shot here, because this band and this album deserve that much and if I can convince one person to go get this album and spread the word, than to me my efforts are worth it.

A lot has been said over the years that there is no new ground left to cover in death metal. That most bands lack the ability to do anything original, which many say isn’t their fault, just the limitations of the style of music they choose to play. Thankfully Decrepit Birth guitarist and main songwriter Matt Sotelo isn’t paying attention to any of this. Decrepit Birth is about to unleash on an unsuspecting world what just may be the one of the most fresh and innovative death metal albums of the new millennium. You could argue there have been better albums released recently, but I think it would be hard for anyone to convincingly say there has been one as unique as this.

The first thing I noticed about the CD right away was I had to turn up my stereo louder than normal. Was this going to be a sign of poor production (a personal pet peeve)? A recent trend in the production of metal albums has been to pump up the overall volume by clipping the highs and lows of the sound by compressing it. Don’t believe me? Grab your favorite metal album on CD from 10 years ago and something brand new, put on and compare the two. You will find that you either have to turn down the new one or turn up the old one. This is not just advances in technology; it’s a push to have louder CDs. What happens in the process of clipping is you lose a lot of the little nuances of the music. To the credit of Matt Sotelo and Decrepit Birth they bucked the current trend for what is a better sounding album. So you have to turn it up. Man, that’s what it used to be all about. It makes for a much better sounding album in the end. And yeah, the production values are top notch on this album. I think there is a science to properly recording a set of drums and it has been done right, here. The sound is crisp, clear and organic. Yes there are triggers on the kick drums, but that just comes with the territory these days. It’s not an overly processed sound like many of today’s bands have. It’s a great balance. The guitar tones are just right. There is good separation so you can hear both guitars clearly but mixed in such a way that the playing compliments each other. You can also hear the bass, which is not just copying the guitar parts, but adding flavor to the music with some well written and played bass lines. The big surprise to all of this is that Sotelo has written and plays all of the guitar and bass parts on this album (no worries live; they have filled out the band with members of Odious Mortem for touring purposes). This dude is a genius. The only thing I would change in the mix at all is to turn up the vocals (effective, relentless, guttural death metal style) just a bit. That’s not a complaint. It’s just they don’t stand out in the mix the way the guitars and drums do. I guess not everything can, can it?

I’m going to “borrow” a few lines from another review of this album because it goes a long way to describe what’s going on far better than I ever could; “The guitars do not mimic each other, most of the time they are playing independent contrapuntal melodies that flow together for some crushing atonal riffs. They also utilize a kind of instrumental chorus; drums switch into slow steady blast mode, rhythm guitar slows down while harmonizing lead melodies flow over. Perfect”. Remember, this is just one guy (two counting the drummer) doing this. What I saw live in the whirlwind of madness behind the drums is exactly what you hear on the album. KC Howard has to be one of the best (and most underrated?) death metal drummers out there today. The drumming is tight and technical. There is a lot going on and it takes a few listens to catch it all, if you’re not paying attention, you’ll miss something. That doesn’t mean that there is so much going on that it’s distracting, the sum of the parts is far greater than any individual pieces. It all comes together nicely in one cohesive slab of brutal music. There is an incredible sense of attention to detail here. The drums are a force to be reckoned with.

I gather from other reviews I’ve read of this album and the band’s debut, …And Time Begins, that Diminishing Between Worlds is a complete turn around for the band. I would go as far as to say that is shows some real maturity with the band finding its identity, its groove. As long as they can keep this line up together (which is hard thing to do these days) we can expect great things from these guys and their future is bright. Since the core of Decrepit birth is Matt, Bill and KC with Matt doing the bulk of the writing, if they change a bass player or second guitarist or two along the way they should be ok. Line-up changes are inevitable, but I think if these three can weather any changes (as they have done thus far), they will be ok. KC is not their original drummer, but he should be their permanent one. Hopefully splitting his time between Decrepit Birth and Odious Mortem will not prove to be too much. I think this is an album people will be talking about in 10 years as a landmark death metal album and hopefully they are still cranking out great stuff in that time as well.

If you haven’t heard these guys yet, I can’t say enough good about this album to get you to seek it out. If you have heard them before, but weren’t crazy about what you heard or were indifferent, then I strongly urge you to give them another chance. Everyone deserves a second chance. They won’t disappoint.

This has got to be the epitome of death metal here. Every musical aspect of death metal has been covered in this glorious album! I honestly don't think any death metal album can top this, other than future Decrepit Birth releases. Do you like brutality? Speed? Heaviness? Breakdowns? Melody? Guitar leads? Solos? Technicality? A relentless assault of mind-blowing death metal? If so, this is certainly for you.

What this sounds like mainly is the ...And Time Begins album injected with a great deal of Death influence. The first album lacked any kind of leads or solos and was more along the lines of Disgorge or Gorgasm. This time, Decrepit Birth still kept those elements but threw in tons of solos and melodic guitar leads to make the album a lot more interesting and dare I say "catchy" in some areas. There is no monotony to be found in this album like some modern death metal albums (Cannibal Corpse.) All the music was written by Matt Sotelo who I thought to be a great guitarist before this album came out, now I just think he's a genius. The songs rely heavily on the dual guitars and they are often playing different notes or just doing different things.

Another thing that struck me a lot was the ridiculously insane drumming. The drummer is KC Howard of Odious Mortem. The drumming is pretty similar on here to Odious Mortem's Cryptic Implosion album. He is a very free-flowing drummer and doesn't stick onto one drum beat for more than 10 or 15 seconds without changing it up. The drumming is very technical and tight as well. It's unbelievable how he can remember every little detail of the song. Each song probably has more music (different parts) in it than some whole albums do.

Overall, this is an essential and even groundbreaking death metal album. Anyone who tells you otherwise must be deaf and/or retarded. You can order this from Unique leader for a measly $12. It is very well worth it and I pre-ordered mine.

Decrepit Birth, like most Unique Leader bands are a brutal death metal band with not a lot to offer that is technical or innovative by any means, that is if you listen to their debut album "and Time Begins..." That album had fast drumming, brutal sounding gutteral vocals and a chugging guitar sound with a few harmonics here and there, but nothing overly spectacular.

There is the old saying "change is good" and nothing could be further from the truth with Decrepit Birth's second full length album, "Diminishing Between Worlds" It can be said that this album is a complete 180f from what you would expect from Decrepit Birth. For those who love the relentless attack of Decrepit Birth's previous album, there is no need to worry because it is still very present. Also, for those of you who were fans of Odious Mortem's latest release "Cryptic Implosion" you should feel right at home with Diminishing Worlds. That's probably because three members of Odious Mortem are in the band. You have the relentless drum assault from KC Howard (Odious Mortem) , one of the best drummers in the death metal genre. The twin guitar attack from Dan Eggers (Odious Mortem and Matt Sotelo as well as the intricate bass lines provided by Joel Horner and of course the punishing onslaught brought to you by Matt Sotelo and lead vocalist, Bill all of these combine to make this album a gem in the otherwise mundane world of 00s death metal.

This album also has some surprises, along with the improved riffing, technical solos, intense yet well timed drumming, and the relentless gutteral vocals, there is also a bit of acoustic guitar on this record, which I'm sure no one saw coming. The title track off of and. Time Begins sees the light of day as well, but is completley revamped. The guitar is revamped as well as the drumming which is the way this song is meant to be heard.

I strongly suggest that both fans and haters of Decrepit Birth should give this album the time of day. I assure you that you will not be disappointed and if you like what you hear support these guys by buying the first death metal masterpiece of 2008. Looks like this year is off to a fantastic start!