Even though I’m trying desperately not to review anything from 2010, the fact is we are still getting plenty of quality 2010 releases sent to us that are worth of your attention. And overlooked death metal seems to be the reoccurring theme; CDs by the likes of Brutally Deceased, Offending, Domination Through Impurity, Abominant, Caliber666, Embryonic Devourment and the recent Soulflesh Collector Records stuff (Cephalic Impurity and Leptotrichia) are all excellent 2010 death metal releases that slipped through the cracks back in 2010, but releases that we here at teethofthedivine feel deserve some love. Another such release is the third album from Czech death metalers Destroying Divinity, who are named after a Monstrosity song, which should clue you in as to their competent death metal throes.

Personally, I think the band should have been named Harnessing Ruin, Majesty in Decay or Dawn of Possession as Immolation appears to be the primary influence here. Churning, atonal, muddy riffs and deep Ross Dolan –ish vocals that alternates between an earthy clamor and weighty, oozing grooves. There’s also tangible nods here and there to the likes of Morbid Angel and Incantation, rather than being complete plagiarism like many of the US based Incantation clones popping up, Destroying Divinity delivers an album that retains enough of its own character to be little more than a mere knock off, though its close.

There’s nothing on Dark Future that would have made it truly stand out amid 2010s death metal, but there’s enough on display here for fans of murky US death metal and the aforementioned Incantation worship movement to maybe go back and give it a try. The production is dense and loose and the songs, while hardly groundbreaking, all have a certain charm and honesty about them. It’s like these guys just discovered early 90s death metal and are paying homage with a youthful vigor despite only a minor grasp of the English language. While all the material is enjoyable, the band is far more effective as slower, steady lurch and drawl as scattered around the likes of “Putrid Stench of Past”,“Undead in the Darkness”, “Cult” ,“Prophecy” and monstrously sloth like closer ‘Face to Face to Destiny”- though all 9 tracks contain some crawling moments and distant squealing solos.

Like all the bands mentioned in the opening paragraph, there’s nothing here that’s going to change death metal or would have ended up on 2010 years end lists. But if you find yourself enjoying the new Blaspherian CD,  this is worth checking out as it is an impressively rendered slab of US styled death metal that has an uncanny knack of commanding your attention despite its relative safety and familiarity. Even with all the genre bending music on my ipod (Obscura, Ulcerate, Ana Kefr, Blut Aus Nord etc) I kept coming back to this.

[Visit the band's website]

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