Till Death Do Us Part

Two years after the band started their new era and brought something tasteful in The Stench of Redemption, they recorded Till Death Do Us Part, which is a mix of earlier records' sounds. Interestingly enough, as Ralph was only a session guitarist on the album this time around, Steve picked the guitar on this record providing the rhythm, as well as some leads on the final songs of the album.

Kicking off with the title track, featuring screams and doomish guitar riffs. It's catchy, it's got balanced drumming, Glen's multiple vocals sound great in the mix, and the guitar solo is excellent. Not as Long as We Both Shall Live is a very technical track, in spite of its sheer brutality, the guitars showcase your "American south" atmospheric riffs and the technicality are the best I've heard from the new lineup. The song is apeshit crazy anyway and at least comprehensible unlike most tracks. The shortest song on the album, Angel of Agony beats most of the longer ones, containing psychotic guitar solos and being brutally original; not suggesting any influence of their two worst albums.

The intro and outro are basically two instrumental tracks, which is great because there's more to listen than just eight straight songs. The tracks speak for themselves, but for me they don't offer as much as the songs have to offer in comparison. Still worth the listen though, and I bet you'll like the outro more because of the immense blast beats. Although brutal, Hate of All Hatreds sounds like something from the band's two worst albums. I liked the guitar riffs on the chorus, but it's not enough to render this song good. Glen also sounds like he's mumbling. In the Eyes of God, while I mentioned how the former track had somewhat better music but bad vocals, this time the whole track goes nowhere. The rest of the tracks are similar, simpler, with unimpressive brutality of the likes from the band's two worst albums. And last for the longest Deicide track, Horror in the Halls of Stones features that same "American south" atmospheric guitar riffs as well, but lacks power like Not as Long as We Both Shall Live.

Overall, I find Till Death Do Us Part to be declining due to its influences from the band's two worst albums, Insineratehymn & In Torment in Hell. But even then, I think it's much better than the previous three records before The Stench of Redemption. It's unique in its own right and showcases some experiment, yet showing room for even more potential. Best tracks are the title track, Not as Long as We Both Shall Live, and Angel of Agony.

Deicide are a band who at this point are gods in the death metal community. With albums such as the self titled, Legion, and Once Upon The Cross, it's not hard to argue. Not only are each of those albums fucking awesome in their own right, but they also helped further develop the genre and help further establish death metal as something that would be around for quite some time instead of some outdated fad. However, with age comes either a graceful age, or in some cases, not so graceful. Deicide thankfully are the latter, and they continue to put out new material that I think is on par with their "classic" material. However, Till Death Do Us Part is a whole other beast entirely, and it's amazing to see that Glen Benton and co. can still put out some seriously fucking heavy metal that represents who they are as a band, while also still remaining relevant in an age where deathcore seems to be the most popular extreme form of music, for better or for worse.

The music on this album is best described as signature Deicide. Plenty of riff-age that could conjure up the devil himself, plenty of furiously fast drumming filled with blast beats and the standard double kick frenzy, and the best part about all of this is Glen's vocals. I've always admired his vocals as they've always sounded killer, but holy shit does he step it up a notch on this album. Glen has always been a very convincingly evil sounding front-man, putting nothing but stellar vocal performances on the albums mentioned earlier. On Till Death Do Us Part however, Glen could've very well turned into the devil himself for this album, because HOLY SHIT! His vocals sound not only more powerful then ever, but there's also a hint (keyword being a hint!) of brutal death metal influence in his vocals. It could be just me thinking this, but it's just what I've noticed while listening to this. I love my death metal to sound absurdly brutal and heavy at all times, so this is a very welcome surprise for me. Well done Glen, you've only gotten better with age it seems.

The songs on the album are all well done, and are ALL absolutely skull-crushing, which is just how I like my death metal. Horror In The Halls Of Stone is my personal favorite off of the album, for I didn't expect Deicide to write a 6 minute song, given how the boys like to be short, sweet and to the point in their music. I think one of the main reasons this song is my favorite aside from the fact that it sounds amazing, is that it feels as though there's a story slowly unfolding before our eyes. A very dark one at that. The song itself at least from what I interpret it to be about, is about a man who has committed the ultimate sin (what I don't know), and instead of going to heaven, he's going straight to hell to pay for his sins. The devil then arrives, and tells him that there's no hope or redemption for him, and it'd be best if he just accepted his destiny and pay for the sins he committed. A bit typical for death metal I know, but fuck you! Sometimes just sticking with what's true and tried is better then trying to change the world and invent a new style of music, or touch upon some new philosophical idea. And that's my general opinion on this album to be honest.

Is this breaking new ground for Deicide? God no. But is it still very well done and surprisingly very well put together and executed for a band who's already been established and have nothing left to prove? Hell yes. If Slayer has taught me anything, it's that if it ain't broke, then don't fix it. And that's exactly what Deicide did with Till Death Do Us Part. I highly recommend this album to ANY fan of both death metal and Deicide. Till Death Do Us Part is a disgustingly beautiful album that will grind your fucking skull in with how heavy it is.

I often find myself wondering how people 20 to 30 years down the line will view what is happening today in the world of heavy metal. Will this "era" be seen as a re-vitalization of metal, or perhaps a more stagnate period where bands didn't really know what the fuck they were doing? What about albums which felt little (to no) impact upon their release? Where will they fit into the catalog of their band's discography? Will they be seen as "duds", forgotten expressions of art which failed, and wilted upon being born, or will their impact be felt much later? It's hard to say, really.

Albums like this one, from the legendary Satanic death metal band Deicide, are examples of this. Here, we have an album which was released in 2008, and was much-hyped, being the follow-up to 2006's "The Stench of Redemption", which many felt "re-kindled" the fires that the band had supposedly smothered long ago. Instead of receiving critical acclaim, however, as one might expect, many fans were surprised and disappointed when they noticed that the song-writing which had become more prominent on it's predecessor, had become largely stunted, while the overall riff-variety dropped and left many of the songs feeling lifeless and boring. Breakdowns are rarely utilized at all, with the tracks blasting around at essentially the same pace for their entire length (which is especially bad because the songs are pretty long for Deicide). The signature death grunts of senior vocalist Glen Benton were noticeably weaker than ever, with his overall pronunciation (or lack thereof!) of his dry and rather "uninspired" lyrics (on this album), being a rather sad observation. Oh, and the lyrics themselves were certainly nothing to marvel at! While still firmly rooted in Satanism and Anti-Christianity, there is really no denying that the passion had dropped considerably. Where once his lyrics stood as a powerful and hateful condemnation of the evils of Christianity, here one can listen as he lets go his feelings of his ex-wife: "even God hates you...by the way, FUCK GOD, GOD IS DEAD".

However, despite all that, this is a good album. That's right, I like this. It may not stand up to the standard set by what the band were up to in the early 90's, but it certainly isn't the worst thing ever. Of course, the album is very flawed, but it is still in possession of a number of convincing death metal numbers, namely the excellent "Not As Long As We Both Shall Live" and the album closer (leaving out the pointless filler that serves as the album's "outro"), "Horror in the Halls of Stone", which is nothing short of epic. Other tracks, such as "Severed Ties", manage to capture the sheer brutality and outright aggression that was displayed so well on albums like "Serpents of the Light", and give it a bit more depth and atmosphere. The verse riff of "Severed Ties" is certainly one of the heaviest riffs the band has written in a very long time, but are sprinkled with bits of melody here and there to allow the music a bit more breathing room. That said, I must admit that I have mistaken this song for "Angel of Agony" many times on my CD player, and have on more than one occasion been surprised when Steve Asheim's badass melodic lead which appears at the very end of "Angel of Agony" didn't happen, and we were instead graced by one of Santolla's terrible leads.

I suppose the attraction here, is not that the music is particularly thought-provoking, or even really all that good. Instead, I would say that it's because this music is so completely ridiculous, so over the top in it's depiction of utter hatred, that it actually kind of works, and helps you overlook some of the album's obvious flaws. This is not an album to put in the CD player when you are in the mood to dissect and examine a piece of death metal magic, no, this is an album for when you feel the need to destroy a small part of the world given to you by God to express your hatred for him in purest form. It's big, loud, and stupid, and it's fun to sit down and blast when you're in the mood for something which is pissed off and doesn't care about anything.

I probably am not doing a very good job explaining why this is a good album. Well, like I said, there are two tracks on this album which break the mold and end up sounding great as hell. The first is "Not As Long As We Both Shall Live", which is one of the only tracks where the band's sound does not come across as particularly "over the top". Here, the band slows down when they need to, and displays their new-found melodic traits in one of the only places on this album where it really works. The melodies are catchy and interesting, and the riffs are memorable as hell. The other track is pretty much the other slow track on this album, the epic 6-minute "Horror in the Halls of Stone". This track sounds nothing like anything the band has done up to this point. It puts melody and atmosphere above brutality, settling down for a slower pace for most of it's length, and thus featuring some of the best melodic lines on the whole album. The chorus features a decidedly delicious lead which soars beneath the growls of Glen Benton. Because it's Deicide, the song does get fucking fast, but because the entire track isn't based at this pace, it doesn't grate on the ears (or the mind) like some of these tracks do.

All in all, you're not missing out if you don't buy this album. I understand why some people don't like it, and why it's been "forgotten" (left as nothing more than a casual mention of "the last Deicide album sucked" on metal forums across the internet). I, however, think that you should at least give it a shot. It's a fun little album, and at least the band are still putting records out, eh?

Deicide's Till Death Do Us Part may just be the band's most divisive album, for it travels in two directions at once. The first, towards a previously unreached level of musicality in the instrumental book ends and lead sequences. The latter, straight down memory lane, because some of its more brutal elements are downright generic and predictable as nearly anything the band were writing during their lamentable 1997-2004 stretch. Thankfully, the massive production values from the previous album remain, so even its drab moments deliver at least a cursory thumping, but in all I can't say that it reached the level of The Stench of Redemption, though it doesn't quite deserve the heaps of negativity some listeners have thrust upon it.

I absolutely loved the intro and outro pieces, titled in opposition: "The Beginning of the End", and "The End of Beginning". But they were like listening to a whole other band performing melodic, progressive sludge or doom rock, or a less jangly, more accessible take on Gorguts' Obscura, Ralph Santolla's exotic leads slicing out over the fields of slowly driving discord and discontent. But one should not be fooled into think that the entire album will reek of such experimentation, because most of the tracks are simply back to the butcher business, from the hammering speed of "Severed Ties", "In the Eyes of God" and "Angel of Agony" to the slower, diabolic old school gait of "Not as Long as We Both Shall Live". That last one deserves a special mention, because despite the fairly pedestrian riffing that it opens with, the atmospheres developed in the bridge and through the leads are simply marvelous, returning to that risk and breadth of the intro and outro pieces. Then there are a few half-on, half-off tunes like "Horror in the Halls of Stone" and the title tracks that have a handful of inspiration riffs wedged in between their filler arcs.

The production is strong, especially the almost mechanical, maniacal precision of Asheim's bass pedals and the clarity of the guitar mutes. As for Benton himself, I found his vocals rhythmically less satisfying than The Stench of Redemption. He follows the beat and guitar line a bit too closely and uses less of the layering snarls that were his trademark, going more for the tone that he used for the Vital Remains records he fronted. Acceptably brutal, just not that inspiring. Jack Owen and Ralph Santolla continue to deliver as expected, and I enjoy the latter's leads more so than just about any executed during the Hoffmanns' stint in the band. In fact, I think the means by which the solos are incorporated into the writing here is nothing but a positive. The real detriment to Till Death Do Us Part is simply that the central death riffs do not live up to the promise of their more eloquent surroundings.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

The Stench of Redemption split most Deicide fans into two camps. There was the group that hated everything since Legion, and the group that though Stench was actually a good album. I fell into the latter group. Songs like Homage for Satan and Walk With the Devil in Dreams You Behold seemed like a return to form for the once great band.

I awaited their newest album with rabid excitement. They published the cover artwork a short while before the release, and I remember thinking, “This has to be a joke,” it really is that bad. Still, cover art doesn’t make or break an album.

The album came out and I began to listen eagerly. After my first lesson I was disappointed. Nothing had leapt out at me. I resolved to hold off my judgment until the album got a fair chance. Over the next few days I played the album repeatedly, and it never improved.

This album has no bad parts. There is nothing that makes you go, “What were they thinking?” (Besides the cover art, at least) But while the album has no bad parts, it also has (almost) no good parts. It simply exists, neither positive nor negative, neither enjoyable nor repulsive.

For the most part, the guitars bass and drums are in the background. Yes, they are playing a riff, but not once in the album is it a very interesting riff. They will usually do their own thing for a bit in the beginning, have a repetitive riff or two for the remainder, and then close the song. Quite a few of the riffs are technical, but that doesn’t make them good. They aren’t technical in the Origin or Necrophagist way of, “How the fuck did they do that?” Nor are they technical in the “Look mommy, I can play really fast!” way that Brain Drill is. The technicality, like the riffs seems to simply fade into the background.

If the riffs are so boring and bland, why the hell did I give this album a 35, rather than say, a 20 (or lower)? Well, for once, the vocals save the day. A lot of people seem to hate Glen Benton’s growls. If that description applies to you, leave now. You WILL hate this album. Once a song is established, he never shuts up. For once, a vocalist that doesn’t know when to shut his mouth aids an album. All of the energy in this album comes from the vocals. While the guitars and drums seem content to sit in the background, the vocals are roaring ahead at full speed.

In conclusion, this album was a huge disappointment for me. Especially when compared to Deicide classics like “Deicide” or “Legion” it fails to hold up at all. It has its moments where it manages to get off the ground, but the only song that I would actually classify as good is “Not as Long as We Both Shall Live.” On the whole, if you love Deicide, buy it. Just don’t expect another classic. If you’re new to the band, check out their early albums. If you hate Deicide, stay away. This won’t change your mind.

God has gone into hiding and Jesus has put the second-coming on hold, because ear-crushing death metal experts Deicide have returned to conquer the world of satanic death metal. 2006’s creation “The Stench of Redemption” was beyond words and left every fan in awe of this bible-burning, angel-crushing machine. In fact, one wouldn’t be straying so far from the truth as to label it as an extreme metal classic. Fronted by the notorious, inverted cross branded Glen Benton, the Floridian horde has continuously slashed the competition to pieces and now rises to the ranks of death metal “anti-gods.”Now, two years later, “Till Death Do Us Part” has left the frenzied crowds salivating at the notion of a freshly recorded Deicide album.


Intro and outro “The Beginning of the End” and “The End of the Beginning,” are both unexpected instrumentals. The foreboding “The Beginning of the End,” features now session musician Ralph Santolla playing the guitar melodiously and all though I’m not too keen on short intros, I must admit, I liked it. “Hate of All Hatreds” plays like a rejuvenated Deicide as the music is circumvolved like a tornado. Then there’s “Severed Ties” which is as catchy as the drums on “Angels of Agony” are rapid.


Six minute jaw-dropper “Horror in the Halls of Stone,” shoves you into a time machine as Deicide turn to classic death metal. Benton’s screams are so haunting and his growls so distressed, you just can’t help but feel unnerved as if he’s trying to warn you that “The Beast” himself is coming to claim your soul; or that it already ran off with his. The mind-numbing groove alone is enough to win me over, but combined with the hair-raising melodies and Glen’s ingenious vocals, this song is sensational. The old-school swagger also makes this track stand out.


Though I have never been disappointed with a Deicide release (I actually listen to Insineratehymn and In Torment In Hell), I can say that they have replaced the frowning gloom and loom heretics found mid-era in the band’s career with what Deicide is most known for; the crooked smiled, boisterously spewing abhorrence, death metal legends, all though the lyrical content is less blasphemous and more straight-forward wrath. Speaking of which, many have been whining about the lack of the defamatory Anti-Christian lyrics, song-titles and cover art. Yet, Deicide are brutal enough to still keep those bible pushers at bay with “Till Death Do Us Part,” even without song titles like “Fuck Your God” and album covers with a pitiful looking dead Jesus on them. So go swallow those tongues.



I also have to talk about drummer Steve Asheim. He plays phenomenally as always and sometimes slows his playing to create a creeping beat, but as every good drummer, his stout mastery of the machine does not elude him, no matter what pace he decides to take. Asheim in no way abandons the fast and sweaty playing though and his songwriting is still to die for. Of course, let’s not forget Jack Owen and Ralph Santolla whom mercilessly shred those guitars, which I thoroughly enjoyed as well.


There is inescapable novelty to this top-notch album, but you’ll know for certain who is playing. For anyone out there who thinks that the band is too old or still yearns for the return of the Hoffman brothers, prepare to have your faces torn off. Turn up your stereos and invert every cross you find. If you’ve been waiting to listen to some killer beats or are going through a rough relationship (the crisp, yet dark beauty of the cover art is fitting with this idea), get your hands on “Till Death Do Us Part,” because Deicide have unearthed their banner of sadistic death metal glory and from the looks of it, I don’t expect it to fall anytime soon.

The Stench of Redemption was a terrific album that showed Benton and Asheim recapture the past glory of the band with the help of Cannibal Corpse’s jack Owen and mercenary wanker Ralph Santolla. It truly was an album that captured the band at its creative peak and saw Asheim and Benton take the band in a new and challenging direction while remaining true to their death metal roots.

Till Death Do Us Part is the follow up to that album and was released earlier this year. Santolla is no longer with the band but comes in to lay down the solos as a session musician and Steve Asheim is still handling the bulk of the songwriting. To add to the excitement that this release caused it’s also being touted as possibly the last album by the band. Not sure how much truth there is in that last statement but Benton’s disillusionment with the scene has been long documented.

To be honest when I first heard the album I couldn’t get past the intro, The Beginning of the End. Slow, moody and with a lead guitar flourish from Santolla it sounded nothing like the Deicide I love. A warning for the old time fans of the band. This album’s going to take more than one cursory listen to get into and is probably the most demanding of the band’s albums.

For the most part, the band has managed to avoid re-making Stench. If anything, I feel like this album sounds a bit like a cross between Serpents of the Light and Insineratehymn while retaining that new found sense of aggression and atonal melodies from Stench of Redemption. For the most part it works quite well. Till Death Do Us Part, Worthless Misery, Hate of All Hatreds and Severed Ties are among the best songs that the band has ever written. Not As Long As We Both Shall Live has a Legion moment somewhere in the middle that is to die for and a vicious guitar harmony.

Santolla is reined in and compared to his work on the last Obituary, sounds remarkably restrained. Glen Benton sounds like his usual acidic bile spitting self while Asheim is rock solid behind the drum kit. I think the presence of Jack Owen in the band has really given Deicide a shot in the arm and added to their fury. The riffs on this album at times attain monstrous proportions and there really isn’t a bad song here.

This might be the band’s last album and (hopefully) it might not. Whatever the future of this band, as a fan I’m pretty thrilled with this album. A more than worthy successor to The Stench of Redemption, Till Death Do Us Part sees the band blasting away down a familiar path while still throwing in enough tricks and surprises to avoid all accusations of complacency.

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

What’s there to say? It’s Deicide’s ninth full-length record that blows chunks, even after they called it a mixture between “The Stench of Redemption” and “Legion.” How sad, right? Deicide hit a homerun with the melodic intensity of “The Stench of Redemption” and were actually idolized when “Legion” twisted brutality into new forms, yet “Till Death Do Us Part” is a parody of those great works, making it a haven of comical emotions above all else. Being serious, this effort resembles yesterday’s superstars becoming a horrendous flapjack of their own image; a grotesque stab at reclaiming an outdated crown by enlisting nothing new, original, or even a degree of decency. I’m officially divorcing Deicide from my CD player after hearing them degrade so painfully during this atrocity.

Here’s “Till Death Do Us Part” in one phrase: tasteless death metal that defines unoriginal feces. Jack Owen and Ralph Santolla once again wield their chainsaws, but a new toxin of egoism and narcissism that consumes Owen’s identity slowly overshadows “Till Death Do Us Part,” as his great riffs and solos completely fall beyond Uncle Ralph’s upcoming popularity. Something seemed missing, so I checked the inner booklet, and here’s what it says on EVERY song: Lead Guitar – Santolla. Jack is listed only a few times, while Ralph and even Steve Asheim (the drummer) solo more; that’s how to treat an icon, I suppose. Looking already pompous and risible, simple riffs you can find on any death metal release contaminant all around with useless melody and pseudo-heaviness, minus any intelligence, of course. Tell me where Eric and Brian are, please?

Glen Benton’s unilateral lyrics are, however, a betrayal in the album’s own sense of identity. I personally foresaw a new frontier in Deicide’s evolving nature when Bigfoot’s self-proclaimed buddy announced his Satanic/anti-Christian charade would finally meet its end for a conceptual tale about the horrors of marriage, which ironically penetrates a laughable paradox right when “The Beginning of the End” finishes its instrumental attack. Soon after, Benton’s worn growls pathetically attract rants against Christianity while circumnavigating between dull descriptions of love, and then our cracked idol desperately tries stitching each category together, producing an effort that received divorce papers before its vows. I guess utilizing different turbulences is just too much work for these “legends,” even on something so simple like lyrical themes.

But on a musical view, everything looks equally disappointing. Steve Asheim, for one, has no presence on his kit. Using identical patterns from “The Stench of Redemption,” we see minimal change besides frequent blasting and a cluster of slowed textures that can honestly show up whenever the “death metal” label is present. Benton, as expected, sounds like himself, which is fine, but I’m not soiling myself over it. As Deicide continues to truck along throughout their ninth opus of one-dimensional plastic, things start weak, and never improve; they’ve officially cheated on all poetic abilities detectable on prior offerings for senseless death metal. Marriage sucks, and so does this album.

“Till Death Do Us Part” has a failing collection of jugulating anthems lurking throughout its stone halls, and Deicide’s lack of bohemian qualities slowly chips away at the listener’s patience, leaving all metal fans disappointed and bored. Efforts like “The Stench of Redemption” and “Legion” clearly remain dominating in Deicide’s camp, so making an attempt to combine the immature and adult forms of Florida’s famous squad resulted in a bastard child only looking helplessly retarded; these cited influences are barely prevalent, or absent in totality. Nothing else can be said about “Till Death Do Us Part,” so unleash your own judgment appropriately. And ignore what Bigfoot says. He’s biased anyway.

This review was written for: www.Thrashpit.com

So, here we are seven years away from Deicide's worst release to date "In Torment in Hell" and it looks like they've nearly did it again with their latest offering "'Till Death Do us Part" I mean where to begin, aside from the album title suggesting that Deicide is steering away from their usual Anti-Christian titles. Maybe like Benton said in the first interview he had with Earache Records, they put out In Torment in Hell to "Get the fuck off of Earache Records" could it be that they want to do the same with Earache?

I'll start where most people would and that would be the riffing. They're seem to be some promising riffs here in an attempt to duplicate their previous work "The Stench of Redemption" but, rather than release something that good or better yet improve upon it they decide to simply rehash a slow riff and turn it into a drawn out five minute sloppy attempt at being a progressive death metal band.

The drumming follows the same pattern as it tediously accompanies the guitar at the same slow monotonous pace. Really a disappointment considering how flawless Ashiem sounded on the Stench of Redemption.

Of course, as with most Deicide albums the bass is seldom heard probably because as it has been stated Benton really isn't all that great of a bass player but that's beside the point. The vocals sound crisp like they did on Stench but, like always they overpower everything else. It seems as though the album really is just an instrumental background with a bitter angry Benton upset because his marriage is crumbling, at least that's the impression I get when I listen to this record.

I will end this review on a positive note. I feel if Deicide take a moment to step back and refocus themselves they can produce another quality record equal to if not greater than The Stench of Redemption and return to the glory they once had. I write this review not to condemn Deicide but to remind listeners of Deicide's glory days and hopefully help those who were and still are fans of Deicide to give them another chance to produce another death metal classic.

The first part of Deicide’s career was great. The start was even awesome with the self titled debut and the following, unmatched Legion. That album was one of the greatest manifests of the satanic death meal that found in this band the maximum exponents. The following albums were always good but with less ideas and weaker songwriting. By the beginning of the new millennium, the band seemed gone forever with two quite bad albums, but they came back with the new Scars of The Crucifix and The Stench of Redemption. I always preferred the first one of these two, and I never found Stench of Redemption so great or exceptional.

This new Till death Do Us Part is the continuation of that sound. I don’t know, but I cannot enjoy the production, maybe because it sounds a bit too weak and soft for a death metal album. The songs are generally fast but the blast beats and in general the drums are not enough powerful. Another thing that I didn’t like in The Stench of Redemption, and here too, is the way Santolla plays the lead guitars. His solos are way too melodic for the Deicide sound. It’s strange, because I like them on the last Obituary effort.

The intro is the slowest song here, while the following one tries to be fast and evil but it’s boring and not powerful at all. The production is really weak and you can hear the differences from Legion very well. These songs generally sound so dull and uninspired. Seems to me that the band is almost completely tired and with no energies. “Hate Of All Hatreds” is not bad for the higher level of violence but the monotony and the absence of catchy riffs (except for the main one at the beginning, that sometimes is repeated during the song), make this song quite monotonous.

Glenn Benton is the only completely positive thing here because it’s really an animal. I don’t know if in the live gigs sucks, but on CD he is always devastating and unmistakable with his tonality and the use of the screams with the growl to be more scary. Steve at the drums has improved a lot since the beginnings and now is a complete and powerful death metal drummer but unfortunately the production doesn’t help and we must concentrate to listen to his parts very well.

The dissonant riffs on “Worthless Misery” are terrible. The faster ones are better. Going on there are better riffs but always followed by weak parts and some of them have been already heard several times. The violence is always at high levels but it’s not enough and to me there are no stand out songs except for some parts in them, but nothing great. Now, the difficult thing comes with the mark. It’s a sufficient album but it’s a bit hard to appreciate in it’s each and single note. We all now the Deicide sound and this album will be perfect for those who loved The Stench of Redemption, but we must understand that they will never put out another Legion.

Till Death Do Us Part is an excellent slab of brutal death. The guitar playing and drumming are highly technical and intense. The vocals, as usual, are comprised of classic death metal growling and roaring, and are often punctuated by scream/growl "harmony" vocals that are a couple of octaves higher. The vocals are good, but they are the least impressive element of Till Death Do Us Part. Unlike certain other listeners, I really enjoy the dynamic instrumental passages that provide variation and showcase musicianship on several tracks. The best parts of this album occur when creative, slower, and more dynamic guitar solos flow on top of furious rhythms. It sounds as if the band deicided (ha ha) to flavor their brutal death with influences from Nile and Meshuggah.

There are 3 or 4 songs that are not as good as the rest of the album: ones with the least variation and most traditional death metal sound. I love death metal, but the best albums are those with sufficient variation in riffs, solos, tempos, etc. Overall, Till Death Do Us Part probably isn't as good as Legion or Once Upon the Cross, but it comes close. There are several tracks on this release that rival Deicide's very best work.

This album was one of the most anticipated albums of the year, at least for me. I got a copy of it the day it was released and i instantly put it in my cd player and initially couldn't feel the vibe that i got from "The stench of redemption”, but the band members never said that it was going to be like their last album. Steve himself had commented that this album would be a slight return to their classic legion or the nearest i can relate to is to “Serpents of the light".

The album even though being close to its predecessor stands out to be pretty different from it but we are not here to compare two albums. "Till death do us part" departs from the melodic sound and focuses more on brutality rather than being technical. Songs are longer compared to any other Deicide album and sometimes this might work as a disadvantage for the album because the songs might get a little repetitive. As a refreshing change the band departs from its satanic, Christ bashing themes and is spewing about marriage and relationships with some intelligent lyrics from Glen Benton.

The production is pretty standard for a death metal record, it is not overly polished and it is not outright crappy. None of the instruments in the production are dominant which is a good thing as it gives a very raw and organic sound which adds to the quality of the album. The drumming on every new Deicide album just doesn't stop getting better. It seems that Steve is growing younger and faster after every album and he just shines on this album. He manages to maintain a good balance between the technical ability and the speed. What is interesting to notice is that not only has Steve done drum duties but has also played the guitar for this album which is extra ordinary and he deserves all the respect for that. Glen Benton just grows as a monster as well with his voice not faltering at all and continuing the brutal assault on our ear drums. The vocals are not as varied as the last album but in certain songs the variations are outstanding and maintain the grip on the album.

The album starts and ends with instrumentals aptly titled 'The beginning of the end ‘at the starting and ' The end of the beginning' at the end of the record. The intro does sound like the God's sedition from “the stench... “ and is a mid tempo track which is unusual for Deicide but does provide a good start for the album which continues to the next track which is the title track followed by ' Hatred of all Hatreds ' which is a blistering track with some groovy breaks and solos which are well executed by the session guitar member Ralph Santolla of Obituary. A few other outstanding tracks are “In the eyes of god ",” Not as long as we live “, "Horrors in the halls of stone “ which is the longest song of Deicide and is executed brilliantly.
If you are a Deicide fan then do not accept an album better than "The stench of redemption" but then do not think that the album sucks because it is not like "The stench of redemption ". The album has some good positives of its own based on which it does stand out and does tell you that Deicide is still going great guns.

I listened to this album a couple of times now, and it just doesn't get me. It's boring all the way. Sure, I can't do what they do on guitar, but just because it's technical doesn't make it good. I hate it, while I loved The Stench of Redemption. This just has too many slow parts. And if there is one thing I hate in death metal, is when there are too many slow parts in it. Sure, a couple of slow part help improve the atmosphere, and can make an album. They just do this too much. Take the intro, which is one big slow part, and it lasts well over 3 minutes, no vocals in it or anything, which just makes it annoying, an intro is good, but it really doesn't have to be more than a minute, by that time we get the idea. The only track I like a little bit is Hate of all Hatreds, and I don't even like that song really much, I merely like it because it looks a little like the album is starting here, with, at last, a bit of a fast piece.

It just seems like the band itself was incredibly bored, but they had to make something, so they released this pile of crap. I have listened to it for over 10 times now, and nowhere it becomes fascinating, as tSoR was, never does the energy just blast out of your speakers, as in the former albums (not only tSoR). I have to say that I don't like this album one bit, I'll just go listening to the other albums a bit. And I hope that the next album will look a little bit more like the Stench of Redemption, if they keep the new formula, and that they forget what they were doing here fast.

Deicide’s position as one of the most notorious death metal bands on the planet was not so much lost as sort of forgotten since the late 1990’s. However, 2006’s comeback ‘The Stench Of Redemption’ was a true return to form, wowing fans and critics alike. The first line-up change in Deicide history (the departure of the Hoffman brothers on guitar) really lit a fire under their asses, and the result was absolutely great. It’s said that the 2nd album is always the hardest to make, but I think Deicide’s peers Obituary have proven that the follow-up to a comeback is far more difficult. ‘Till Death Do Us Part’ almost makes it look easy.

The album begins with an aptly titled instrumental showing off the lead guitar wizardry of Ralph Santolla, who appears on ‘Till Death Do Us Part’ as only a session member, having left the band. There are still some absolutely blistering solos (‘Worthless Misery’ being a fine example) but generally the leads are toned down a fair bit, letting the riffs and vocals do the talking. The vocals of Glen Benton are quite a love-it-or-hate-it matter, but if you’re a fan of his growls then his delivery here will impress you. In fact, this is quite applicable for the album as a whole. The riffs and drumming are fairly standard fare for Deicide, but that’s by no means a bad thing. Founding member, drummer and principal songwriter Steve Asheim is still very impressive behind the kit, with the same pounding drum sound that the last few Deicide records have had. The sheer intensity of the drum takes are very impressive, a frantic blast accompanied by what sounds like several different fills at once, without once sounding lost. ‘Angel Of Agony’, in particular, is a true demonstration of Steve’s ability on drums.

In fact, Asheim’s recordings on this album are not just limited to drums as he is credited with lead and rhythm guitars as well. He, Santolla and Jack Owen (of Cannibal Corpse fame) all lay down very solid guitar tracks. The album has countless brutal Deicide riffs and a sizeable dosage of soaring leads, though the latter are not as plentiful with Santolla as only a session player. The sound of this album overall could be seen as a mixture of Deicide’s 1992 classic ‘Legion’ and their newer, more punchy and melodic riff style. Of course, 16 years changes a band’s sound a lot, and the production is most certainly very important to this. Even by early 90’s standards, Deicide’s first few albums didn’t have great production, but since ‘Scars Of The Crucifix’ their tone and mixing has had a real punch to it. While ‘Till Death Do Us Part’ is still far more sonically ‘in-your-face’ than say, ‘Serpents Of The Light’, it doesn’t quite have that aggressive power that their last two albums had. This is no complaint, though, as this is Deicide as Deicide is meant to sound: fast, heavy and unforgiving.

The lyrics of Glen Benton are well known for being vehemently anti-Christian and as little as you may agree with his views, it is hard to deny that his lyrics are well done. He has retained that same dark language for over 20 years now, but with time and age his writing style has matured significantly since the days of ‘Oblivious To Nothing’. In fact, this album contains quite a lot more than the standard blasphemy that Benton normally churns out. As the title (and, indeed, the horrendous artwork) may suggest, some of these songs have a dark twist on the marriage theme, and of course its religious connotations. There are still some lyrically weak songs (“Feeding off the excrement's of bible prophecy” from ‘In The Eyes Of God’…yum) but Benton’s lyrical style certainly does not deserve to be bashed as much as it is by some people, no matter how controversial the subject matter is.

There is a definite sense of familiarity with ‘Till Death Do Us Part’. Perhaps it is the fact that we are not hearing Santolla and Owen’s fresh guitar styles for the first time this time around, but really this is quite a standard Deicide album. The riffs, the drumming and Glen’s distinctive vocals are all there for the taking, but this album fails to have that massive impact that Deicide’s previous record did. This isn’t new or refreshing (though the 6 minute ‘Horror In The Halls Of Stone’, Deicide’s longest song to date, most certainly is) and it doesn’t masquerade as anything else, it’s just a quality slab of death metal done the Deicide way.

If you have not been impressed by Deicide’s work (even ‘The Stench Of Redemption’), then this album isn’t going to change your mind. That said, songs like ‘Horror In The Halls Of Stone’ and ‘Not As Long As We Both Shall Live’ really do sound like a band that has never stepped a foot wrong.

So, Deicide put out a follow-up to The Stench of Redemption. I'm sure the hype for this album is big and definitely deserved. However, with the course of Deicide's progression (or lack thereof at times), this album isn't going to strike you any differently.

Deicide is following the same formula as with The Stench of Redemption with Jack Owen's mark on this band immensely prominent. His style of melodic interludes are what Deicide needed to progress and progress they have. But with this album, the riffs aren't really there as much as they were on the last record. They sound a little rehashed and forced.

Steve Asheim's drum sound is just as good as on the last record. If anything, he's the best part in this band these days. I loved the production of the drums on the last record and I like them on this album.

Glen Benton's vocals are surprisingly still decent. You'd think after recording Vital Remains' last epic that he wouldn't have much left in the tank but he's proven himself on this one. Another surprising aspect of this new album is the fact that Benton's lyrics aren't incredibly childish and boorish. He actually wrote things of substance. Of course, I don't believe in anything he says but as a lyricist, I can appreciate the thought process. The Satanic aspect of Deicide has always come off to me as a gimmick to young teens looking to rebel in any way. The mantra is overplayed but obviously for Deicide, it's all they have to go on so it works for them.

If I was to have checked Deicide out for the first time, The Stench of Redemption and Till Death Do Us Part would be 2 albums I would stick with the most.

Good tracks: Not As Long As We Both Shall Live, In The Eyes of God