Review Summary: Dying Fetus ain’t no crying baby.
Techy-death metalists Dying Fetus are one of those bands I would usually associate with conversations pertaining to ridiculous band names. I’m sure a majority of you at some point in time have also had one of these bro talks where you crack jokes about the most retarded metal band names and spray milk (or beer) out your noses. One thing that can’t be denied is that bands such as these (Cannibal Corpse, Anal Cunt etc.) have made a career out of their outlandish names and song titles, which were never really backed up by good music to begin with. The main problem with names and song titles that carry such shock value is the fact that trends tend to die quickly when people catch on to the gimmick and too many bands play along themselves. Fortunately for Cannibal Corpse and Dying Fetus, they realized that shock factor has already paid off well for them and in turn, needed to learn how to get good fast. Cannibal Corpse have certainly hit their stride, composing the punishing
Kill in 2006 and slickly produced
Evisceration Plague this year. Dying Fetus have finally done the same here in 2009, crafting an album that is worthy within the genre and have also produced the best album of their storied career.
Not that they had much to go upon after the snoozefest that was
War of Attrition,
Decend into Depravity ups the ante in so many ways. The first thing that is noticeable on here is how fast this album is and I mean “REALLY ***ING FAST”. Even when the Fetus decide to slow things down, they can still give you a nasty friction burn. What’s also enjoyable about this album is that they’ve dropped most of their deathcore influence for more tasteful thrash licks and technical death metal that rips *** cakes to pieces. This doesn’t mean that the deathcore isn’t entirely gone (‘At What Expense’), but they’ve utilized it to a much lesser extent. While we’re on the topic of spastic riffs, I would like to point out the frenzied attack of technical mayhem that is induced by vocalist/ guitarist John Gallagher (the last original member of the band as well). While he may not be the best death metal vocalist (low-end cookie monster growls) and lyricist (nothing you haven’t heard from a politically charged metal band), he will spank you silly with his stinging arpeggios (‘Your Treachery Will Die With You’) and his technical wizardry that would leave a pro’s dexterous fingers in cramps (‘Conceived Into Enslavement’). As easy as it is to praise his guitar pyrotechnics, it’s the chugging and somewhat ‘monotonous’ tone of this type of death metal that can really grate on your senses after a song or two. For the avid technical death metal fan as well, they will snub their pukey little noses up at this and simply yawn if off (as if you could play like this you little ***s).
It’s amazing that John Gallagher has been playing this band up since 1991 and has yet to produce his magnum opus. Maybe Dying Fetus will never put out anything spectacular but instead, continue to up the ante with each subsequent album, only really pleasing his fanbase while gaining new fans along the way. With six albums under Gallagher’s belt,
Descend Into Depravity easily surpasses anything this band has ever produced and most of the *** that exists in the deathcore realm. Fans of death metal/ deathcore should find this easy to digest while the rest of us should find reasons to come up with a million-and-one ways to make jokes about the bands name.
