Spiteful and Bitter

METAL

Deicide

Overtures of Blasphemy

Deicide have written some of the most important albums in extreme metal history and continued to create intriguing ones throughout their three decades. Unfortunately, Overtures of Blasphemy is a sore spot on an otherwise strong track record. The album begins on an underwhelming and largely forgettable note with “One With Satan,” which feels like the band going through the motions. A black metal riff here, a blast beat there, maybe throw in a chugging down-tempo moment and there you have it: a new Deicide track.

There are a few great moments, such as the downpicked riffing on “Seal the Tomb Below” or the thrashy intro on “Crucified Soul of Salvation,” but even these songs are eventually sullied by lazy writing. It’s as if the band found great starting points and couldn’t figure out how to fully flesh them out, opting instead to copy-and-paste black metal riffs into the record and cover their sloppiness

garage sound, while the title track’s pounding beats aim for pure techno. We Share Our Blood is a poised, momentous forward leap for Ouri, who from here on in should widely be considered one of electronic music’s rising stars. (Make It Rain, justmakeitrain.com) METAL Cage. with ripping guitar solos. While the band are more than capable of writing killer death metal tracks, Overtures of Blasphemy feels like a phoned-in effort in comparison to their last few albums. (Century Media)

You’ve said you thought you’d get more mellow but what you’ve been through has darkened your soul. What do you mean?

Vocalist/bassist Glen Benton: I’ve been through just about every emotional fucking thing that a person can go through, and the older you get, I can honestly say, the more spiteful and bitter you become. The older I get, the more I want to just shove it up everybody’s ass.

Did you ever mail forehead scabs to someone who pissed you off?

I’ve never mailed any scabs. I would eat the scabs; I wouldn’t mail them. and textures, the variety of the arrangements and the thoughtful song compositions by mastermind guitarist and primary songwriter Scott Hull that make Head Cage stand out. (Relapse, relapse.com) MODERN COMPOSITION