Debauchery

Back In Blood

Written by: PP on 21/05/2007 13:09:37

Debauchery's fourth album "Back In Blood" mixes so many genres together that it is occasionally hard to keep track on the number of obvious influences it puts forth throughout its 62 minute playing time. It's filled with (mostly) disgusting and, more often than not, blasphemous lyrics praising "the blood God" and celebrating violence and other forms of brutality, with nearly every song containing the word "blood" in one context or another.

Upon reading this you will probably lean the band towards the noisy gore-grind genre, but the similarities between the band and that wretched genre end here. Their music lies somewhere in between Americanized melodic death metal with plenty of solid riffage and deeply growled vocals, and groovy heavy metal in the vein of Benedictum. It is even possible to hear some early Dark Tranquillity influence in the many groovy melodic passages scattered across the album, and somewhat shockingly, AC/DC inspired riffs if you listen to especially "Death Metal Maniac" carefully. But this should surprise no-one with knowledge to the title of the AC/DC classic "Back In Black", as Debauchery themselves consider their new album to be a tribute to one of the most significant metal bands of all time. A bloody tribute, may I add, or what would you say about the following song titles: "Baptise This World In Blood", "Praise The Blood God", "Back In Blood" and more.

Many people will be put off by the harshly growled vocals, which is a shame considering how refreshing Debauchery's approach towards the death metal genre is. Instead of demonstrating incredible instrumental virtuosity on every single track, the band uses a more mid-tempo riff-based approach and relies on creating melodic soundscapes instead of massive beatdowns and blastbeats followed by even more noise.

The biggest problem with "Back In Blood" is that it is sometimes difficult to take seriously with its cookie monster vocals and tongue-in-cheek satanist lyrics ("Now is the time to murder, now is the time to slaughter, now is time for voodoo dolls..") But that is only a minor setback and any death metal fan looking for a change from the 'lets play immensely complicated music at lightning speeds backed by constant double blastbeat hell' approach to the genre. An entertaining effort.

7

Download: Back In Blood, Lords Of Battle, Death Metal Maniac
For the fans of: Dark Tranquillity, Six Feet Under, Cannibal Corpse, Torture Killer
Listen: Myspace

Release date 23.03.2007
AFM Records
Provided by Target ApS

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