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Vehemence > God Was Created > Reviews
Vehemence - God Was Created

Do You Have a Moment to Talk About Vehemence? - 100%

Tanuki, May 14th, 2023

The Thoughts From Which I Hide felt like a slow, bumpy bus ride through all of the tired clichés of millennial melodeath, whereas its follow-up, God Was Created, felt like an ungodly hurricane made out of radioactive tarantulas. That's all I really wanted to say, but if you insist I elaborate, God Was Created is one of my favorite albums of all time, because it truly is the complete package: Ghoulish, cerebral melodies, enshrouding a wonderfully written yet deeply unsettling story of a crazed stalker's pursuit of a Catholic schoolgirl who only has eyes for Jesus.

"Tanuki, you sexless ponce, this sounds more edgy than a geometry textbook, why are you wasting our time with a concept album about a schizophrenic murderer getting cuckolded by Our Lord and Savior?", I hear you ask. And I admit, a bible-bashing death metal album from the early 2000's does not sound particularly appetizing on paper, but the real magic here is in the details. With a passing glance, you might assume this album is oozing with all that foul-smelling misogyny one could expect from this era of extreme metal, but look closer and you'll see it's highly critical of overbearing, negligent, hypocritical father figures. Chief among them? Jesus. In addition, both the stalker and his victim suffer abusive fathers, who serve as catalysts that set the macabre tale into motion.

The delirious culmination 'The Lord's Work', feels deliberately inconclusive: Was it all just a cautionary tale about the dangers of obsession? Or was it meant to represent how the terrorization and destruction of a young girl is reflected when they're taught to accept inherently sexist religious dogma in an oppressive environment? And gee, I wonder why a parallel was drawn between Jesus Christ and an obsessive maniac who judges your every move and watches you while you touch yourself? In conclusion, death metal is not exactly a fertile landscape for interesting concept albums (can you name any, besides Elvenefris and The Diarist?), so God Was Created deserves special praise for being a concept album with extended metaphors that could actually mean something.

As you might expect, most of the vocals are delivered through chasmal grunts that sound like the groaning hull of a rusty container ship, so chances are you won't understand a word he's saying anyway. This bestial growling style is atypical for melodic death metal, sounding far more at home in the climes of brutal death metal instead, a la Frank Mullen or Lord Worm. This creates a captivating and unsettlingly monstrous atmosphere that will take unsuspecting listeners off guard, particularly when the inhuman roars are paired alongside sorrowful, bittersweet melodies like the bridge of 'I Must Not Live', or the intensely unnerving "Watching her in her room, I am in love with her" mantra in 'She Never Noticed Me'.

Chief among this album's magnificences is its guitar artisanship. The euphonies on display here are often mentioned in the same breath as Intestine Baalism. Ghostly, saturnine melodies hover above these sickening chugs, which should not only remind you of Banquet in the Darkness, but also the Swedish all-stars like Dismember and Edge of Sanity that helped put this style on the map. The unorthodox approach to melody and song structure will have Purgatory Afterglow fans feeling right at home, with complex waltz time signatures and a gourmet of moody, unforgettable passages. My all-time favorite setpiece of this album would have to be the grandiose bridge of 'Christ, I Fucking Hate You'. It's such an effective and effusive harmony; it sounds like something Marty Friedman and Jason Becker would've written, if they were asked to write a metal theme for Blasphemous. It also briefly put me in the mind of Artillery's 'Bombfood', oddly enough, and I've gone on record calling that one of the greatest setpieces in thrash metal history.

Every track of this album has a part that gives me goosebumps, and by the time 'The Lord's Work' grinds to a close, it feels like a werewolf dominatrix just curbstomped my face into an open waffle iron. And if you're new to my reviews, my praise doesn't get any higher than that. Seriously, this is the first and so-far only 100% I've ever awarded, and that means I believe we're discussing an album that is well and truly perfect, from note to note. In fact, I'm fairly sure loving this album so much has ensured I'm going to Hell.

Conviction, obsession and creativity collide - 75%

autothrall, November 30th, 2010

If Vehemence stirred up a buzz with their debut The Thoughts From Which I Hide, it was ultimately undeserved, not because it was the most steaming puddle of shit across the flood plain of USDM mediocrity, but because it was entirely void of any personality worth noting. The band might also have been unsatisfied, because God Was Created crosses a major evolutionary gulf in sound. Now touting a deal with big movers Metal Blade Records, the enhancements to both production and musicality seemed to coincide with a band on the way up the ladder of attention, and indeed this must have been the case. Several death metal fans I know cite this as one of their favorite albums in the genre, and while I won't claim it's anywhere even such close to such praise, it's the best of Vehemence, and their sole album worth hearing.

Basically, this is an approach to complex and somewhat technical melodic death metal which bears only passing similarities to the European bands that were already huge by this time. You can hear some vague comparisons to Dark Tranquillity, At the Gates, or early In Flames in the writing, but the Arizonans distinguish themselves by maintaining the brutal death metal aesthetics of their debut. The growls, snarls and even clean narrative vocals are a marked improvement over their debut, in that they're mixed level to the instruments rather than trying to overwhelm them like the previous album, and the songs create an occasionally hypnotic balance of tranquility and disgust. Never more so than the track "She Never Noticed Me", which is glazed with an impressive chug-melody pair off late in the bridge that rides out the playtime.

It's a concept album, and believe it or not, the lyrical implications are pretty faithful to the debut. This is a story about a disaffected youth who, in his obsession over a young woman of his acquaintance, goes on a killing spree, with some necrophilia involved. Sure, it's as fucked and twisted as you'd expect in the death metal genre circa Cannibal Corpse, but the way Vehemence have manifest and structured the contents through a chronological narrative of the music are commendable. You'll go from sympathy for this loser, to disgust at his immoral actions, and then even a morbid revulsion which extends beyond the carnal to the realm of existential terror. Of course, there's more to the story which you can read for yourselves. It's a rarity, even by today's standards and super saturation of the form, and clearly the strongest trait on the entire record, executed lovingly in tracks like "Fantasy from Pain", "Lusting for Affection", and "I Didn't Kill Her".

If God Was Created lacks, it's that it throws so many riffs at you that some are bound to slide off your armor, and while I cannot deny the amount of sheer effort these lads must have put into the album's construction, I occasionally feel some of those 'less would be more' moments that might have crafted more memorable compositions. Though they are cleverly disguised here, the band also still shifts into some of their slam breakdowns, but at least the complexity adds some depth to these that they don't seem so contrived or annoying. Earlier I lauded the band's improvement in the vocal area, and indeed, they are far better than those found on The Thoughts From Which I Hide, but they still sound to me overbearing in spots, like a metalcore band playing melodic death, and it can be distracting over the superior musical content. That said, this is the best of Vehemence's works, certainly the one to experience if you're tracking down the band for the first time, and the one they'll need to one-up.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

Melodic death metal's greatest work - 100%

Noktorn, October 1st, 2007

Vehemence's 'God Was Created' is untouchable. It is without a doubt the greatest album that the style of melodic death metal ever turned out. It is musically flawless. This belongs alongside 'Altars Of Madness' and 'None So Vile' in the pantheon of death metal classics, despite its position of relatively little popularity, at least compared to those LPs. This lack of greater recognition makes absolutely no sense: Vehemence was greater than nearly all other metal, especially on this album, and I've never fully understood how the quality was never quite recognized. Vehemence was very critically acclaimed, and some people, like me, have professed their love for the album, and yet they seem not to have ever attained their rightful place in the greater death metal community's perception of what the genre's greatest albums are. And with music like this, there's quite literally no reason for it to be this way.

I can hardly find words to describe how beautiful and wondrously crafted this album is. Every element of this album is just so perfectly in place. It reminds me in a way of Cradle Of Filth's 'Dusk... And Her Embrace', where you can't help but be awed by how carefully and flawlessly constructed it all is. I genuinely believe that even people who hate death metal with a fiery passion could love this album easily, so amazingly is it made. It transcends the boundaries of the genre: not through music, per se, but through quality that is able to appeal to people regardless of their typical musical tastes. It combines all the best elements of death metal into a single album that destroys most everything else in music. And to imagine that THIS album is one of the pinnacles of death metal, one of the most overflowingly melodic and emotional albums I've heard in any music at all, is even more amazing. It breaks a thousand rules and somehow comes out as a perfect example of what all melodic death metal should be. It is perfect in every way.

Vehemence truly understood what melodic death metal was supposed to be. It's not supposed to be stripped of its heaviness or brutality: the melody is supposed to ADD to the music, not subtract, and that's precisely how Vehemence used it. This has precisely zero in common with Gothenburg melodeath, latter-era Death, or Cynic, because while 'God Was Created' is unbelievably melodic at times, it is still first and foremost a death metal album, and Vehemence never forgets that. It's always raw, if not instrumentally, emotionally, and it always maintains power no matter how mellow the music itself is. It's not a remarkable album because it did something new. It's a remarkable album because it did everything it SHOULD have done, and did it perfectly. There's never a moment on this album where the band puts something unnecessary in out of some feeling of obligation or on a whim. They knew what elements would result in a great album, and they went and composed it. It's a work of pure, undiluted art, and the fact that it's so under appreciated is a crime.

Here's the secret about this album, though: it's really just pop rock translated into death metal. If you strip away the distortion, the metal drumming, the unclean vocals spewing blasphemous lyrics -all the things that make this a death metal album- you have what is essentially pop rock. This is still obviously a melodic death metal album; that much is undeniable, as is that Vehemence is a death metal band. But the melodies and structures of the music are actually all pop-based, and not very death metal at all beyond the obvious aesthetics. 'True' death metal, even in its most fragile and melodic moments, never gets quite this easy on the ears, and this is a major thing that sets 'God Was Created' apart from other melodic death metal albums: it's ridiculously easy to listen to due to these poppy aesthetics. I'd wager that a good part of your enjoyment of this album is based on your ability to push aside preconceived notions of how death metal 'should' sound, and, though I am very loathe to use the word, all elitism towards the 'purity' of death metal as an art form. The music here doesn't invalidate Morbid Angel or Cryptopsy; it just goes in a different direction, and there's no reason to feel threatened by it.

Take the very first song on this album, 'Made For Her Jesus'. The opening acoustic melody could easily appear in mainstream music, though it is darker and more minor key than most. Then, when the music ignites in full, with bombastic drum accents and a quick flurry of bass and snare leading into the main rolling rhythm of the song, the sinuous lead guitar is clearly neoclassical in nature, and laced with melodies that are instantaneously classic just because they're so ubiquitous. All the melodies on this album feel familiar, but you'll probably never place them because they don't actually appear elsewhere. It's just how natural everything sounds: all the melodies are ones that SHOULD have been written long ago, even if by some twist of fate they weren't. But back to this song: it's brilliant. An instant classic of death metal, changing tempo, mood, and texture constantly, ever shifting in new, exciting, and beautiful directions without ever losing sight of the structure of the song itself. Every note is flawlessly and carefully composed. Melodic death metal literally does not get better than this song.

Or perhaps it just might. Vehemence's most legendary track, 'She Never Noticed Me', is up next, and it's quite possibly the pinnacle of Vehemence's catalog. Sublime is the only word for this song: the upward spirals of heart wrenching guitar, the stunningly dynamic drumwork, the impassioned vocal performance, the subtle orchestral backing, it's all absolute genius. How has this song not been written before? Everything's so perfectly in place and naturally constructed that it seems to have sprouted from the very air itself. It's the sort of song that master pop songwriters struggle to perfect over the course of years, and there's NINE MORE SONGS OF EQUAL QUALITY on this album! How are these guys not heralded as songwriting geniuses? How have they not been DISCOVERED more!? It's the sort of album that I can only describe through massive streams of uninterruptible, overly enthusiastic cursing. But even that fails, because you can't really describe this album. You can attempt to get your arms around the enormity of the genius at work here, but you'll never really get it. You simply have to hear it.

Like all melodic death metal albums, 'God Was Created' is all about the guitars, and they're the best guitars melodic death metal has ever had. Go beyond the fact that they're beyond awesomely played, that many of the riffs are extremely technical (without ever losing songwriting, melody, direction, or atmosphere), and that they're supremely stylized and dramatically played. The fact of the matter is that this album has essentially the best riffs composed in music. I can think of MAYBE eight other albums with riffs this brilliant, and even those are questionable as hell. Generally, most bands have a few truly great and brilliant riffs per album, and a bunch of mediocre to good ones. The riffs on 'God Was Created' are ONLY in that first category: it's like Vehemence cannibalized all the best riffs from the greatest unknown melodic death metal bands in the world and put them together to create some sort of superalbum that can't be overcome by anyone. And above the ordinary brilliant riffs, the top ten percent of THOSE can't even be comprehended by mortal ears. The worst Vehemence riffs are the best riffs of other bands.

There's at least one section in every song on this album that's completely mindblowing, and Vehemence are generally smart enough to put in near the beginning or the end and completely destroy your soul. On 'Made For Her Jesus', it's the opening distorted riff. On 'Made For Her Jesus', it's the fast sort-of chorus. On 'Fantasy From Pain', it's once again the opening section. On 'The Last Fantasy Of Christ', it's the acoustic portion. You see a pattern getting established here? THEY'RE ALL AMAZING! Add to this the fact that the first block of four songs is even better than the rest of it and you can't even process how good this album is in the best moments. The rest of the music adds greatly to it, but if this album was nothing but guitar it would still be completely fucking brilliant on every level. The drums are spectacular as well: very dynamic, with a great sense of control over volume and timbre. It's deliberately overplayed yet unobtrusive, with lots of small flourishes added to make it that much more interesting. The vocals are excellent as well, employing rich growls and throaty screams that are massively memorable and very well employed. In all honesty, though, it's hard to compliment anything when the guitars are present: they just override everything else in excellence. You know all those little lead riffs that occur in many of today's melodic death/metalcore bands? Well, remove the influence, and you have an album packed with those. It's awesome on every level. There are tremolo riffs, chug riffs, atmospheric riffs, technical riffs, every kind of riff and each individual one is a masterpiece.

There is one last element that makes this album absolute genius, though: the lyrics. Much has been made of the fact that 'God Was Created' is, at least in part, a concept album. This concept is primarily illustrated through the brutally beautiful lyrics that are employed. They are of an extremely unique style: the subject matter is often very violent or pornographic, but often illustrated in very clinical, technical terms. Juxtaposed with the impassioned delivery of the vocals and the melodramatic melodies of the music itself, and a very unique style emerges. I don't know how many bands could pull off screaming 'My hand moves to my scrotum' over a depressive tremolo riff and make it not sound ridiculous, but Vehemence makes one. It's amazing just how memorable some of the lyrics are: you'll find yourself singing along with 'She Never Noticed Me' rather quickly, and the cleverness and subtlety of the lyrics is essentially without par in metal today: 'Sometimes/I notice/A bruise/On her face/Or her swollen lip... But most oft/I gaze/At the cross/Which hangs/Between her breasts...' Somewhat prosaic when written, but utterly compelling when meshed with the music.

I could go on for dozens of pages about why this album is so great, dissecting every riff and lyric and drum beat of every song on 'God Was Created', but the result would be essentially the same as not discussing the album at all. The brilliance of this release is unquantifiably masterful on every level, and should absolutely be viewed for what it is: a classic in music, and the very acme of melodic death metal as a whole. This late group of virtuosos deserves much more attention than it ever received at the hands of the public, so do your best to change this. Get a copy of 'God Was Created' and love it like I do, because I'll be damned if I can find anything better than this. Melodic death metal is dead, and 'God Was Created' is the dagger in its heart. Inexorable.

Eh, it should be better. - 50%

MutatisMutandis, November 6th, 2006

I can’t even describe how fucking sick I am of writing epic reviews for bands that suck this hard. However, I doubt I'll be able to confine this to morsel quantity. Ahem.
Vehemence are an Arizona-based Death metal act who, not surprisingly, became signed by Metal Blade shortly after their final decent piece of music went out of print. Their “demo”, as they for whatever reason like to call it, was a stainless razor ‘cross the jugular, and even after a solid week’s worth of listens, did not fail to impress me start to finish. The next album of theirs I heard was their third full length, “Helping The World To See”, which even in front of my eager ears, turned out to be one of the most boring swigs of metalcore-influenced bullshit I’d heard up to that point. Strangely enough, it wasn’t until recently I got to hear their sophomore effort all the way through... well, nearly. I actually ended up turning it off around track nine out of disgust. You might want to stop reading this now if you understand where it’s headed...

Apparently, in between the ‘raw masterpiece’ stage and the ‘Sounds-of-an-unkept-outhouse’ stage was a bombastic melody driven stage. Unfortunately, it’s no “Heartwork”. Simply put, Vehemence combine somewhat upbeat Swedish pseudo-thrash riffs with somewhat decent midwestern melodies with somewhat shit-awful drumming, equating to a somewhat mind numbingly bland experience. The keyboards are silly as hell, the bass, when coherent, does nothing special, and the vocals patterns are mechanical and rigid, weak in delivery, and fit in perfectly with the terrible music.

The only exception to be found is the album’s third track, Fantasy From Pain, which for some reason, sounds nothing like the remainder of the tracks, and is surprisingly, the only redeeming factor and more. I could actually say that I really like this song - it excludes all the weak-ass thrash riffs, and has an explosive beginning with a lot of spine. The midwestern flair makes the riffing sound angsty instead of gloomy or poppy, and the song’s atmosphere is akin to that of a more nihilistic City Of Caterpillar track; epic and tense.

To sum things up, avoid this album, and download Fantasy From Pain. Better yet, download the demo version found on that old 'Fire On The Brain' compilation. The production is just so much cleaner, and the song hits a lot harder. Vehemence have become terrible songwriters, so I'm glad to see they've finally split. It's easy to understand why bands like this "sell-out", if you'd like to call it that, but considering how excellent 'The Thoughts From Which I Hide' was, I expected better. Oh well, back to sleeping...

At Last! A New Death Metal Band That Rules! - 95%

Shogun, December 31st, 2004

Influenced by several sources, to include Cannibal Corpse, Deicide, and a touch of black metal, Arizona's Vehemence has brought a death metal symphony to the table in 'God Was Created.' Incorporating several techniques that death metal bands nowadays have a habit of disregarding (to include acoustic guitars and a pianist, no less), Vehemence taps into a new concept: Christ as a state of mind, able to enrage, possess and control humanity on an individual level. Don't think for a moment that this is a happy, pleasant album. Nathan Gearhart brings a violent timbre to his vocals as he tells the story of the murderous tirade caused by a mental domination of Christ. It may seem a little confusing at first, but there's no mistake: Vehemence shows no love for the god within us all.

Vehemence pulses back and forth with drastic contrasts, dynamic transitions, and ultra-violent lyrics comparable to Exhumed or Cannibal Corpse. Compensation for soft, piano-heavy moments is created by throbbing drum and guitar parts, austere growls, and shrill screams, twisting out a dark, teeming environment. The album opens with two tracks that exemplify this side of Vehemence, 'Made for Her Jesus,' an autoerotic love fantasy between the Christ and a confused girl, and 'She Never Noticed Me,' a narrative about the thought processes of a young man who obsesses about said confused girl. Opening both tracks with acoustic guitars paves the way for the guitar melodies to follow in electric formats, and where the acoustic guitars fall out, pianist Jason Keesecker leads in with a similar tune.

The following tracks are inspired by the concept of killing the girl through possession of Christ in 'Fantasy From Pain' and 'Christ, I Fucking Hate You!' Where 'Fantasy' plays through the idea of killing the father (who apparently molests her) and the girl, 'Christ, I Fucking Hate You' explores the aftermath, when god has left the man's body and all that is left is a girl, strangled dead in the heat of passion, a father, bleeding profusely on the bedroom floor, and the man, confused by the effects of the godly domination that took place. Guitars are swift and contrasting as events shift from our protagonist clutching his genitals outside in the bushes, stepping inside and killing the father, and strangling the daughter as he has his way with her. The bass is especially heavy on the latter of the two tracks, and Mark Kozuback's secondary screaming vocals are well-heard in the closing lines of 'Christ, I Fucking Hate You' (appropriately screaming alongside Gearhart "Christ, I fucking hate you!").

'Lusting for Affection' deviates from the events in the first four songs and focus on the protagonist's home life, isolated by the lack of true family life and desensitized into believing physical pleasure is emotional satisfaction. Through obsession, stalking, and ultimately rape, the young man experiences what he believes to be love and affection. The song is fairly standard style death metal, what with a hard-hitting opening guitar riff and relentless drums. All in all, 'Lusting for Affection' is a good track in and of itself, but not necessarily running in an original format musically. Expect nothing more than death metal; expect nothing less than death metal.

'The Last Fantasy of Christ' comes off as a supplement to 'She Never Noticed Me' in that both are about similar events, but where 'She Never Noticed Me' is about the girl obsessed with Christ, 'The Last Fantasy of Christ' is about the final display to Christ of ignorant witness to god's works. Eventually bored of the savior routine, Christ fades into apathy and depression, the final straw being this girl who fondles herself for his love. Transitions in this song are quick and powerful, unexpected yet strangely appropriate, especially the short "even if you did exist" monologue roughly 2/3 through the song (coupled with the peaceful acoustic guitar, this proves to be a nice intermission between two powerful musical moments).

'I Didn't Kill Her' opens with some wicked screeching guitars that play to the album's longest track (running just short of 9 minutes). The girl has long been buried, and now our protagonist has gone to grave-digging and necrophilia (explicitly describing her cold body warmed by his sexual promiscuousness). There is a true insight to the main character in this story, as he doesn't find himself responsible for the girl's death. Rather, he blames Christ for killing her, and lauds himself for giving her the greatest love of her life through physical manipulation. The guitars and bass play off each other extremely well on this track, offering a nice death metal composition, epic in its own right. The highlight here is the drums, as Andy Schroeder drives the set like a tornado. It's peaceful one moment, pulsing and pounding the next, supplementary following, and relentless once more.

The title track 'God Was Created' is perhaps the catchiest song on the album, what with intense bass and drum tracks coupled with a confined guitar track. Despite the track's musical limits, this proves to be the song I listen to the most from this album, if only because this is vocalist Nathan Gearhart's swansong. The growling vocals ring out in near-perfect clarity (well, as clear as a cookie monster could be) while the screams during the choral moments aren't excessively high-pitched. Gearhart's got just the right ratio for rasp to roar ratio, and it works right on the money. Perhaps the only song with a clear message to boot (that is to say god exists within ourselves), it's one of a select few death metal songs that make me feel 'happy' upon the closing notes (played on an acoustic guitar, no less).

A bathroom suicide in 'I Must Not Live' is a torrid example of the thrash inspired guitar playing by Bjorn Dannov and John Chavez. This song is fast to the bitter end, reminiscent of early Testament or Metallica, and coupled with Gearhart's vocals filled with revenge against god for taking his love from him, this proves to be one hell of ride. By killing his flock (to include the savage gutting of a schoolgirl in the bathroom stall) he exposes himself to god as a dissenter, and decides to kill himself to prove his hatred for the deity. His final thoughts are explored in the closing track, 'The Lord's Work,' which comes off as a brief summary of the story's events coupled with a bass heavy riff to boot (in the same vein as 'God Was Created'). The song ends with a haunting message to those who blindly follow: "Don't believe all their lies...the lord's work."

Unexpectedly uncompromised, Vehemence has sent forth their first major label debut not soon to be forgotten. It is certain that this band packs quite a punch and will not let up anytime in the near future.

The ultimate concept album - 100%

TheBigDizzle, May 21st, 2004

This Album is the absolute best concept album I have ever heard. Everything comes together to make it a very special and pleasurable listening experience. I would first like to comment on Nathan Gearharts vocals, they go along with the music perfectly and I think he has one of the best death metal growls in the business today. The guitar work of Bjorn Dannov and John Chavez is some of the best you could ever hear, the two work together extremely well and the musicianship between these two is of an incredibly high level.

In my opinion there are 2 standout songs on this CD, the first of which being the powerful ‘She Never Noticed Me’. This track just goes on and on with relentless emotion, and near the end, hits you with a very memorable guitar riff which just sucks you right into the entire song. The second standout of this album would have to be ‘I Didn’t Kill Her’. This song is yet another punishing example of Vehemence’s skill and power as a band. It has somewhat of a slow start, and then it picks up and pummels you into the ground relentlessly, but it will still have you screaming for more.

Overall this is a very engaging album, with no tracks that seem like filler, but some are better than others in certain ways. I had to search high and low to get this album, but once I got it in my hands, I did not regret the purchase for a second, anyone who likes good technical death metal, with relatively intelligent lyrics would do well to pick up this CD.