This out of print classic is once again available as a remastered slim digipak through Burning Dogma Records – who have done a nice job with the reissue.  Omnipotence is 8 songs in 46 minutes and the songs were longer than average death metal tunes, especially for that time period.  Opener “Thoughts” is still one of my fave songs from that time period.  Opening with a monstrous blast beat with Dying Fetus influenced vocals especially the low end Gallagher type of vocals.  After the brutal blast the song gets into a super cool slow down with awesome plucky bass guitar plucking all over the place.  The song approach gets into some more technical moments with some poly-rhythms, then the song picks up pace and right into the ferocious blasting with awesome vocal tones and growls.  Still one of my favorite death metal songs of all time.  The band unafraid of tossing in a guitar solo as well, with one getting tossed in, just to lop your stinking head off for good measure.

“A Level Higher” is a great example of some of the off the wall type of shit I spoke about at the beginning.  Opening with a slow heavy riff and then the drums come in with some weird vocals tones.  More of a spoken word/crooning style.  It’s downright odd.  The musicianship is excellent, the song heavy, but the weird vocals patterns – at the time seemed out of place.  Still to this day, the tones are odd-but original as all hell.  Then more of the dual Dying Fetus vocal style comes in and it’s excellent.  The song has excellent atmospheric guitar riffing and then the crooning vocal style is dropped in over the double bass, and then the lower gutturals take center stage and are just flawless.  More guitar soloing, tricky signature time changes.  This song sums up the all over the place style of Wicked Innocence.  “The Greys” opens with a Human Remains vibe with the weird guitar sounds, then into the double bass and those guttural vocals come on in and the song gradually picks up the pace with stop n start blast beats, drum rolls, solos, atmospherics and brutal technical precision.

The remastering is excellent.  Louder and clearer.  The guitar sound and drums punches the gut harder and the bass guitar sound sounds better than before.  The digipak folds out nice and is super glossy.  Nice graphics with pictures and most of all – lyrics.  This is certainly a welcome addition.  Super nice reissue Burning Dogma Records!  One of the weirdest and most original albums is finally back in print.  Wicked Innocence’s Omnipotence is just an incredible listening experience which stretches the listener’s ears to the max and this is an essential classic.

Holy Pedophile was and still is a brutal display of mid-west death metal with each song seemingly catchier than the next.  The 5 songs, had a little rough around the edges approach, but so damn catchy.  How can one not sing along to “Anger”, but belting out that song title.  Rich had a knack for having some excellent mid-ranges, as well as guttural brutality sung with power and force.  Steve Murray’s guitar work, along with Rich’s, as well as David Barbolla’s not overly complicated drum style meshed well with Casey Reba on bass.  The songs gelled, were cohesive and still to this day the title track is my favorite Fleshgrind song.  Obviously not due to the true to life lyrical content but the song has catchiness to the enth degree.  The opening with the keyboards and the sounds of what is transpiring at the church are gross and sets it up for quite a horror story beginning.  Then that pounding drum sound permeates your soul, before the catchy chorus comes in-because after all God Will Make it Betterrrrrrrrrrrrr!  One of the best demos of the 90s’, by far.  The remaster is a bit of a mixed bag as I am unsure if the songs were ripped from a cassette, since their tends to be quite a bit of hiss in certain parts and uneven levels.

Sorrow Breeds Hatred… Bleed on Me had the same line-up as the first demo and took the songwriting skills to the next level with even better musicianship.  The opener, “White Demon”, about a Great White shark, is one of their best songs.  Excellent and pounding blasts and with that guitar riff isolated, then going into the mid-paced part with the thunderous double bass is so goddamned catchy and heavy-the song was and still is perfect.  “Cum on My Stumps” with the great opening bass guitar then right into the mid-paced part, growl and blast is vintage 90’s brutal death metal.  Rich vomiting all over the place.  The stop n start part at the 1.05 part is excellent and could create a pit the size of Jupiter.  Plus what a fun song title?  The title track at only 2.48 blasted right out of the starting gate and a lot of mid-paced and heavy double pounding parts.  I love this demo so much and what a great follow-up, to the classic Holy Pedophile.  The remastering on this demo is much cleaner, levels are good and sounds quite excellent.

The bonus songs are their full set from the 2000 Fuck the Commerce Open Air Festival.  The collection of songs span their first 2 demos, as well as their first 2 albums: Destined for Defilement and The Seeds of Abysmal Torment.  Sound quality of the remaster is pristine and perfect.  The cd digipak is one of those slim jobs with pics, a cool cover to reimagine both demo covers and a terrific live picture of Rich Lipscomb, who sadly passed away earlier this year.  A terrible loss to the scene.  But his influence is still far reaching today.  I urge you to pick this compilation up-it’s well worth it, from one of the finest death metal bands who shaped the mid-west American death metal scene.  Buy or Die!!!