Any band, fan, or reader of my reviews knows I love all forms of extreme music, and when it comes to death metal, yes, I will admit to saying the scene is way too saturated with a bajillion bands. I do, however, love a lot of the new bands. When it comes to extreme music, and in this case, death metal, I prefer bands that have more of an organic sound and not overly processed. North Carolina’s Deteriorot have been slinging their death metal since 1990 – the glory years of death metal. Awakening is their fourth full-length album and is as good or even better than their third album, two years ago, The Rebirth. Paul Zavaleta is still the remaining original member on vocals and guitar, and James Goetz – drums, Travis Meredith – bass, and welcome in a second guitarist – Arthur Reid.

Awakening contains 12 songs and is the perfect amount of time, at 36 minutes. The title track opens the album and is an instrumental, and gets things started in the doomy sort of death metal the band plays. It’s a nice opening piece, and “The Flame” enters immediately with an isolated guitar riff before the swift death metal pace erupts. Paul sounds like a man possessed, singing in some hellish cavern. The tune slows down, and Paul’s deep, throaty, old-school vocals are perfect for this death metal. A neat Autopsy-influenced guitar solo takes form, and once it ends with the pinch harmonic, it gets right into the fast, not quite blast beat, death metal speed. There’s a plethora of tempo shifts, and these slow, doomy, sloth-like heavy moments are outstanding.

“In Battle to Survive” is up next and is something we all do as workers day in and day out, am I right?! Excellent drum rolls start this off with the doomy AF guitar tone, which has enough filth on it to make a pig jealous. After a mid-paced moment, the galloping comes in. Paul lets out some growls and then right back into the slower moment. Some moments in these sections have me thinking of Finland’s Purtenance, with the slogging dense heaviness, doom, and the mid-paced Bolt Thrower type of moments. I swear this album sounds like 199,2 and the organic production is not only warm and excellent, but you can hear everything. The bass guitar has its moments, too. Soon, we are swooned with a nifty guitar solo, then the mid-paced moment, and then the gallop. These catchy parts are strategically written, and I do enjoy that  they repeat to embed in our brains.

“A Ghost in the Mirror” is exactly what looked back at me, this Monday morning, as I was getting ready for work. More doomy heaviness with killer guitar solos and a higher-pitched growl from Paul. I like that Paul growls a lot on this album, as the previous efforts. Growls always add that extra oomph to the music and regular vocals. I see death metal bands moving away from this old school approach, and for me, it’s not a good move. The gallop takes center stage with a killer guitar solo, and in this moment, there is no way you will not be headbanging to it.

“The Spirit”, at under two minutes, is the shortest non-instrumental track on the album. It erupts out of the starting gates, with the double pounding technique, and Paul growling his head off, as if he is feasting on gobs and gobs of chicken that his mother-in-law just brought to the house. This song is just non-stop intensity, and then it’s over, and “To Sleep” ends the album, a 30-second instrumental. This ending tone reminds me of vintage Anathema, with the doomy, melancholic tone.

Awakening sports a magnificent album cover, and it goes perfectly with the music. Deteriorot know the art of writing memorable death metal without inserting blast beats into their songs. There are a lot of doomy elements on this, and fans of Incantation, Disma, Autopsy, and Desecresy should jump on this release quickly. Awesome, filthy, well-played, organic death metal!!

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