First off, there is a contender for the best album cover art of the year, right there (Though Clamfight’s S/T is still my favorite so far).
After a 5-year wait, Germany’s most American-sounding death metal stalwarts, Dehuman Reign, are back with album number 3. And little has changed since 2020s Descending Upon the Oblivious.
Still playing a safe, predictable yet effective sound inspired by the likes of Deicide, Cannibal Corpse, Monstrosity, and Malevolent Creation, the band delivers 9 songs and 2 intro/outros in 43 minutes of no-frills, thrashy old-school Floridian death metal.
Nothing more, nothing less, and like the last album and the one before it, it’s decent, not great, but not bad either. The production is crisp and tight, the vocals are nice and gruff, and a few tunes like “Opiuim”, “Post Traumatic Suicide Syndrome”, “Ancient Enemy”, and groovy “Heretic” actually got my feet tapping a bit.
However, once the back-end tracks like “An Envoy from the In-Between” and “Preparing Armageddon” roll around, my interest wanes a bit, despite being solid tracks.
Still, the fact that the band has sounded basically the same since forming in 2012 and releasing their debut EP in 2013 shows the consistency and comfort level that these guys are still doing it with, and doing it together with ease.
