Worship or Die

Ohh, this is horrible, it is just too damn horrible. This has got to be some of the most annoying programmed drums I’ve ever heard on an album. This makes Mortician and Decomposed Serenity sound like live drumming. One of the first things that strike you when you’ve pressed play is the abysmal drum sound. It sounds thin, rigid-as-hell and just plain annoying. The ‘snare’ in particular… I mean, come on!

But oh well, drumming isn’t everything I suppose, it just makes it difficult to enjoy the rest of the music. And the rest of it unfortunately falls flat on its arse due to the ultra-awful production. Extremely thin guitar sound that almost hurts to hear. I’m not really sure what’s going on riffing-wise, ‘cause the awful distorted sound seems to make it impossible. This is however a very slamming. They mix the brutal sound of acts such as Devourment, and throws in tons of slam. Unfortunately the slamming moments haven’t got a chance in hell to make an impression as the hellishly thin and screechy sound destroys it all.

It might’ve had its moments, as I tend some cool moments of slam along with a couple of slower sections where the riffing shines through. But whatever "Worship or die" has going on is shredded to pieces by the sound, I just have to mention it once more. The only positive thing about the album are the vocals, as the deep grunts are pretty powerful. And during a track like "Murderwire" it is backed up by damn wicked screams lurking in the background. Too damn bad the album even makes a bad first impression due to the digital-looking artwork.

Originally written for http://www.mylastchapter.net

This is really a good release. It has very good riffs, and it's really brutal, leaving nothing to be desired from a death metal fan.

This is what just kills the album, it's nothing to do with the songs, but a production aspect. Every song just cuts off at the end. Just when you're really enjoying the last riff it just ends abruptly. It's not the fact that it lacks outros, it's not the kind of metal that would have those kinds of endings. The classic death metal bands often just ended their songs; but all of these songs just cut off, they don't even let the last note ring out. It just sounds bad. It may not seem like a big deal but listening to a whole album that does this gets pretty annoying. This could have been a studio error for all we know.

But aside from that, it's quite good. Each song starts with a sample of something which you might recognize if you're into really obscure things, they're very well placed. People who have seen them live may know what to expect when hearing these samples.

They waste no time in throwing you into a world of pure unrelenting brutality at high speeds and keeping you there for a few minutes. The guitar tone sounds great. One interesting thing is that they seem to play in standard, something unheard of for a death metal band, but it works for them.

The vocals are well executed and sound really brutal, I don't know what the lyrics might be but I assume they are equally brutal. The programmed drums could be alot more imaginative, I wasn't impressed there. But the drums get the job done, as it is more of a guitar driven sound.

The album is comprised of excellent songs like "Crucifixiation" and shorter songs in between that serve their purpose of maintaining the brutality. Every song is very satisfying right up until the endings, which just makes it difficult to listen all the way through.