Decrepit Birth "Diminishing Between Worlds"

Tracklist: 01. The Living Doorway 02. Reflection Of Emotions 03. Diminishing Between Worlds 04. Dimensions Intertwine 05. The Enigmatic Form 06. A Gathering Of Imaginations 07. Through Alchemy Bound Eternal 08. ...And Time Begins 09. Await The Unending 10. Essence Of Creation 11. The Morpheus Oracle (Outro) Release: 2008 Genre: Brutal Death Metal URL: www.decrepitbirth.com Label: www.uniqueleader.com

Oh damn now also Decrepit Birth have been caught. The speech is about the melodic progressive death influence which is totally indicated in the Californian Death scene. After Odious Mortem Decrepit Birth and maybe also Severed Savior are adeptly going along. Well it's not really a wonder because in this band half of the band members from Odious Mortem have settled down although "Diminishing Between Worlds" has been accrued in a clearly trio formation. Suffocation bass player Derek Boyer is unfortunately not a member anymore and also the amazing drummer Tim Yeung has been replaced. But that doesn't make a big difference as the bass has been overtaken by the bands guitar player Matt Sotelo in a very good way. On the drums KC Howard (Odious Mortem, Ex-Element) has been taking care of building up a reputation. At the bottom there is no reason present to bitch about as KC for sure has the skills to play in the same league with Tim. Everyone who is able to remember the glory times of the first album ".And Time Begins" will for sure notice very fast, that Decrepit Birth are sounding different in the year 2008. Out of the raging high-speed blast beat sound from the past a progressive and melodic Death Metal opus has accrued which is rather orientating on the path of bands like Cynic, Atheist or Death. Sure at some parts they are still playing blast beats and have some slaughtering but the majority is pretty much sunken in the melodic swamp. Where the melody/brutality ratio on Odious Mortem's "Cryptic Implosion" album has been very balanced the mixture is getting too much one-sided for me. I already had a similar problem with Vital Remains' latest album "Icons Of Evil" too. The guitar solo amount is simply too exaggerated. That Decrepit Birth are able to play should be clear since their debut album was released but why do they have to prove it one more time this way? This whole dumb never ending guitar jerk off is just getting on my nerves. We maybe had the chance to listen to the best solos and melodies in the Death Metal genre done by Atheist, Cynic or Death in those days but here everything just sound uninspired, inconsequentially, overrun and insincere. Back then on ".And Time Begins" there has been a cool "aha" effect existing and one has been whirled all over the place through the brutality, the speed and the diversity of guitar riffs. On their newest coup my feet are rather falling asleep. Also this band has been so creative that they took one of their old songs from the debut album and recycle it. The differences to the remaining material are more than just clear. I like the original version still more as it sounds rougher than the new one. In my opinion there has been plenty done in the wrong way and my high expectations after the great debut album could not be fulfilled. Only the longer runtime is able to clarify a little positive development. Everyone looking for a good progressive and also brutal album should definitely grab the latest albums from Odious Mortem or Element. But I had the greatest laugher while listening to the pseudo-epic outro which is coming along with cheesy and mean keyboards on which even the Gothrock band Him would have renounced. It's really a shame, because I've awaited more. "Diminishing Between Worlds" is not completely utter shit but still a disappointment. However I would still like to mention the cool cover artwork again done by the master Dan Seagrave. But this alone is not enough to justify the purchase of the album so deliberate well, if you don't prefer to spend your money for really good progressive Death Metal.

Rating: 69 % | from Gore | Date: 14.05.08 | Time: 00:45	shut down