There isn't much new to say about Deicide in 2018. They're one of many long-running bands out there that when you put them on, you know what to expect.
But maybe that isn't totally fair. Their sound has been refined and shaped a lot over the years. In the early days, they were very much of the "Morrisound" variety of death metal. They had a lot of scooped guitars, no mids to be found here, just high-end blade to your face and a low-end punch to the gut. This was the sound of their first four albums, particularly the career-defining classics Deicide and Legion.
After an uneven middle period, the band's sound oscillates between albums. Some steer closer to the crunchy past—Scars of the Crucifix and To Hell With God. Others like Till Death Do Us Part and In the Minds of Evil brought a fuller, more bludgeoning sound. At this point, I've come to like the latter sound more. It takes the band's formula and allows it to reach further and further heights of brutality.
So I'm happy to say that Overtures of Blasphemy is one of those albums, and definitely belongs in the top half of Deicide's discography. The album features catchy and memorable riffs on songs like "Crawled From the Shadows," along with crushing grooves on "Compliments of Christ" and "Consumed by Hatred."
Many of the songs, including those last two, sound interchangeable and could be easily confused for one another. But if you think of the album as a complete whole rather than something to be diced up and over-analyzed, it is quite forgivable. And yes, Glen Benton's lyrical approach remains the same: an unending litany of unholy bile and venom. But hey, this isn't a prog record meant to open your mind to vast new planes of intellectual transcendence and enlightenment. This is Deicide. Thank goodness.
Score: 8.5/10
Favorite Songs: "Crawled From the Shadows," "Compliments of Christ" and "Consumed by Hatred"… For whatever reason, all of my favs on this album start with the letter, C. But "Seal the Tomb Below" is pretty nasty too:
