Dehuman Reign — Destructive Intent

Extreme metal is at a crossroads. One path leads toward newer sounds, faster speeds, and interesting new themes. The other toward classic sounds refined to play to the modern metalhead. While both approaches are valid, the former seems to trip itself up with the need for speed. Not every new idea works. Thankfully, to quote George Romero, "there's always vanilla."

Dehuman Reign's debut is a short, fast, quality death metal record. It is well produced and the instruments are very clear. There is no denying the classic sound of this album. It feels as if Suffocation were mixed with early/mid 90's Cannibal Corpse and mid-90's Morbid Angel. The drums are fast, tight, and sound great. The vocal growl is low, mean, and throaty. The guitars and bass buzz and chug, respectively. The pacing of the songs really propel the album along, and the songs' three minute run times make sure that pace doesn't get tiresome. There are two interlude tracks ("Invocation I" and "Invocation II") that also help to break up the shredfest. They consist of a really deep, distorted voice talking over drawn out horn drones and crackling fire. They're short and sweet. The one main complaint I have about this album is the lack of solos. Normally, that wouldn't bother me, but hearing some of the teases they do makes me want more. I wanna hear these dudes open it up! Having that Suffocation vibe probably doesn't help, as those dudes rip.

Destructive Intent is a nice debut from a new German death metal band. They've shown they know the past and want to help bring it into the future. Even the awesome album cover hearkens back to a golden age of horror and decay, but also honesty. I'm very interested in seeing what these guys come out with in the future.