Customer Reviews

Dechristianize

5 star:		(44)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Well, yes. This album came out more than a year ago, but bought it quite recently. Why? Because, with Metal in general, I have grown to be very, and I mean very selective. So even though I had only one Vital Remains album (Let Us Pray) which I think is an amazing one, and I also knew that Glen Benton of Deicide was the vocalist and had heard all the hype, it still took a while for me to give in. But I am glad I finally got it. Compared to that one other album by VR, this one is quite different. Whereas Let Us Pray used more churning, heavy, doomy rythms, with their brutally fast and aggressive passages, this one ups the speed and blast beats to the max. But, to my surprise, there are melodic guitar breaks, which remind me of Iron Maiden and such, which really elevate this album beyond a mere grindfest. The performances are all mind-boggling, especially the drumming. Though I must say, like some fellow reviewers, that the drums could have more punch to them in terms of production. This minor detail is not so bad that it ruins the experience of being pounded into dust by the sheer brutality of this music. If you thought Death Metal was dead, no one told the guys in Vital Remains, and I am proud of them for keeping the genre raging with vitality. As for the lyrics, they are beautifully blaspehmous. Lyrics do not make or break any DM band, but it is still delightful to hear Benton's venomous vocals amid such musical rage spitting out such violent words. Again, with any other lyrical themes it would be the same, as lyrics are not the be all,end all for any Metal band - just take a look at Obituary (the guy had like one line of lyrics for each song, the rest was wordless growling, and they still ruled). In short, this is an uncompromising, potent slab of Death Metal sure to satisfy those who crave extreme aggression and speed in their music, and who don't mind it being sporadically sprinkled with a powerful melody.

I'm very picky with the death metal I listen to. A lot of it sounds the same to me. When the first proper track (track 2, Dechristianize) began, I was almost certain I would regret investigating this band. But as the song and the album went on, I started to realize how good the BAND is.

Granted, the thing that made me skeptical at first was the vocals. It's not that I mind the screaming, but I feel that the vocals were mixed too far forward in front of the rest of the band. This flaw is why I gave the album 4 stars instead of 5. In some parts of the album the screaming is so prominant that you can't hear the fantastic lead guitar very well at all. This is a problem I also have with Nile when listening to them: the guitars are great but often you can't hear them under all the grunting and growling.

I also heard some Death influence in some of the lead guitar, which was a welcome sound to my ears.

I've begun to train my ears to filter out the screaming so as to better hear the music. If you are into death metal this is a purchase I would recommend making. If not... you're probably not reading reviews for this cd in the first place anyways, right?

Superb!!! Brutal Technical Death Metal at its finest. Hands down, mouths shut this truely is one of the greatest Death Metal albums of all Metal history. Suzuki proves himself worthy of being considered one of the greatest drummers/guitarists of our time. Lazaro still mercilessly delivers his always brutal bone crushing guitar riffs. And as for Glen...ha! he still has it! His demonic beast roars and death scream is still alive and bold and fits prefectly to back-up the brutal on-slaughter carnage that Suzuki and Lazaro relentlessly deliver. A must for TRUE METALHEADS that know their METAL. This more than enough to demolish any trendy, mainstream, pop-culturized, fake MtV, Hot Topic band(s).Horns Up

Words cannot describe this masterpiece. Everyone in this band is perfect, paticularly the drummer and Glenn. Both give off the best performance of any Death Metal album ever. Glenn is much better with Vital Remains than with Deicide and should be with Vital Remains full time. The best song on this album is Dechristianize by far, but other highlights include At War With God and Entwined By Vengeance. If you are a fan of extreme, brutal, punishing metal, then you should definitely buy Dechristianize if you can find it. I am not exagerating this review one bit. Trust me. BUY IT.

Here we have an all time classic metal album, I have no doubt. Vital Remains have always been an excellent death metal band with not enough recognition but this will change for sure following this release. I personally prefer my metal to be secular, so I don't like the explicit satanic, anti-Christian element which is thrown in your face even on the front cover, but that can easily be ignored when you spin this disc and hear the sheer quality coming from your speakers. Fast, pulverising death metal with a surprise element - at times, melody! And it really works. These melodic sections come quite by surprise in the middle of EVERY song on this album, highest praise must go to Dave Suzuki for providing this. This guy is a keen student of the neo-classical & fusion styles of playing pioneered by virtuosos such as Tony MacAlpine, Vinnie Moore etc. & a very accomplished lead guitarist in his own right. Hear it for yourself - all songs include some of the finest lead solos/interludes ever recorded by a death metal band.
The drumming - well, not only has Suzuki found time to master lead guitar, he is one of the best drummers in this genre too! Yes, that's right, he does all the drumming on this album - and it really is something. As good as it gets largely - the fastest blast beats, huge variety of fills etc.. this guy is a metal god.
The legendary Glen Benton is lead vocalist on this album, and he's on top form throughout. Faultless.
Summing up, this has got to be one of the best death metal albums I've heard since following it avidly from 1988.
All you true death metal heads - old school and new, grab this one if you haven't already got it. None of you guys will be disappointed, that's for sure.

Prior to hearing this album, I'd never heard Deicide, so I didn't really know or care about Glen Benton. I'd never heard Vital Remains, so ditto. My roommate comes in to my room with a fevered look in his eye and says, "Play this now." So I do. I'd just gotten some cd that I was kinda in to. Then I heard this. All of a sudden, everything else sounded like crap in comparison. This has got to be one of the best cds I've ever heard; not the best metal cd, the flat-out no-holds-barred best music I've ever heard. Glen Benton's vocals are absolutely insane. The guitar work is nuts, especially considering that one guy (Dave Suzuki) is responsible for the lead guitar, bass, and drums on this album. The supporting guitar work by Tony Lazaro is awesome: crushing, intricate where needs be, inspired across the board. Several tracks, namely Dechristianize, Devoured Elysium, and At War with God kept coming out of left field with the most brilliant breaks and hooks I've ever heard. Like just when I thought it couldn't get better, they came in with even more. Even the mediocre tracks on the album are excellent grindy, growling death metal that I would consider high points anywhere else. This album contains songs that are in the course of like seven minutes crushing, angstful, wistful, and beautiful. If I could only keep one album for the rest of my life, it would be this, it's that good. Intelligent and emotional lyrically and musically. If you're still reading this review you're wasting time better spent buying this.

vital remains man,i swear they have honestly recorded THE best death metal album ever!the guitar work is amazing and the drums are technical as hell.glenn benton of deicide sounds like hes getting his jollies off left and right here as he sounds the best hes sounded in a looong time.i cannot understand how the world of death metal would be without this recording,i believe that vital remains is paving the way for the genre.a very epic classical sounding album that is in my terms the years best release,dont hesitate,buy it.satan is very proud of these guys.

Vital Remains blew me away on this one, I read in BWBK magazine that they initially only wanted benton to do guest vocals, but they ended up having problems with their current singer so benton jumped in and said "f*** it, ill do the whole thing"

And what an amazing cd they laid out, vital remains teamed with what i belive to be Bentons most brutal vocal performance ever. The first song I heard was Unleash hell - which i proceeded to listen to in my car for days to come

This to me is the best album released so far this year in terms of death metal

Vital Remains have come back with their latest offering, "Dechristianize", featuring a very harsh, guttural Glen Benton(of Deicide) on vocals this time around. First of all, this cd breathes new life into the genre of death metal. There are intense blastbeats and blasphemous vocals, complemented by some very intelligent, almost neo-classical lead guitars. The lead guitars really give atmosphere and melody to the songs, and are very well placed and thought out(unlike some of the standard "dying horse" death metal solos)The drumming(which was the subject of a heated discussion between me and some friends) on this cd is incredible. I still have a hard time believing they arent programmed. Even if the drums are programmed, they show a mastery of percussion and technique. Again, they sound too real to be programming, yet too inhuman to be anything else. This shocked the hell(or heaven) out of me when i put this in for a spin; if you're a fan of death metal at all, buy this.

The sheer brutatlity of this CD is incredible. Glen Benton goes from deep guttural growls to hellish shrieks that could scare satan himself into church. The riffage is heavy, fast, and brutal and put all the nu-metal bands [ie Slipknot + Korn] to shame. The drums are a lighting fast assault on the listener, like death metal should be.

However this CD has something other then brutality going for it, and that is the utterly epic sound that is hidden amongst the hatred and aggression. The title track, Dechristianize, is probably the greatest example of this "epicness".

Lyrically this CD is on the attack, and the target is christianity. You can just tell that Mr. Glen Benton really, REALLY doesn't like christianity. Satanism is another lyrical theme that runs thick in this albulm. Really I can't think of too much else that this albulm gets across, which is probably the only downside of this albulm is that all the songs are about the same thing, without diversity.

I'd give this CD a 94%, it's definately one of the greatest things death metal has to offer, and I'd suggest it to anyone with an appreciation of the genre.