Liar in Wait

After the breakup of the original Deicide lineup, the Hoffman brothers left the band in 2004 after a dispute with Glen Benton. Reformed under Deicide's original name, even though Roadrunner Records at the time demanded the band to change the name because it was recognizably taken from Diamond Head or Mercyful Fate, only now it looks like they insisted on using the old name. So at this point in time, this band should be treated just as a different band.

As they reformed Amon and released this debut album in 2012, they've also re-released the Amon demos from the late 80s. For whatever reason, the latter was pointless and seemingly for marketing purposes, I mean if they clearly despise Glen, then why re-release the fucking thing instead of maybe - I don't know... RE-RECORD it with the new vocalist? Just food for thought.

As they reformed in 2007, the Hoffman brothers recruited Mike Petrak for drums and a young Jesse 'Jechael' Jolly for vocals and bass (who was also in After Death; the first reformation name of Nocturnus). Not only this lineup resembles the original Deicide lineup, but you get yet another fucking death metal band about Satanism - but there's a catch... they sound kinda technical like the famous German technical death metal band, Necrophagist.

Never mind that the mix sounds bad. Starting with Among Us, you get some similar riffs and death growls from Deicide, the bass is probably nonexistent, and the drums sound atrocious; good, but bad. The song's chorus is really of Deicide very own. The similarities are just there, it's like Amon is a Deicide cover band. Lash Thy Tongue and Vomit Lies sounds like a mess. The guitars are dissonance in the very bad way, riff wise, the drums overwhelm the mix, and the vocals are unimpressive. Same with the title track, only the guitar solo is REALLY like Necrophagist, Sentience and Sapience (not only it's too rushed, it also has a very Necrophagist-ish solo), and Spat Forth from the Darkness; but more Suffocation-ish kind of a mess. Reaching for Flesh's outro was very brutal - that's about it. Rest of track is beyond forgettable. Wraith of Gaia also tries to impress with them technical guitar notes - but by now as the album concludes probably know by now how it ends...

Eye of the Infinite has been the only song I liked from the band. While it reminds me of Necrophagist, the actual song sounds much, much better than anticipated. The blast beats sound great, the guitars are groovy, technical AND melodic, and challenging. So some kind of originality is formed there - and you guessed it by now, it's the best track. The longest track, Semblance of Man is perhaps the most technical track on the album. It reminds me of Suffocation a little bit. While it lacked just like almost the entire album, at least it has the most potential.

That's one way to tarnish your legacies, Hoffmans, not to mention that even when this album is quite groovy it's just unoriginal. For one, the lyrical themes - as I said above, just another band that sings about Satanism and even anti-Christianity, the technicality is in the likes of Necrophagist, and the brutality is in the likes of Suffocation. You simply can't get behind that.

As I was writing this review, I noticed that both Mike & Jesse aren't in the band anymore. Mike wasn't in the band since the debut was released, and Jesse wasn't in the band since 2016. In 2017, a native Floridian, Ron Parmer, along with Mike Vredeveld who're both in the bands Bloodmessiah and Catalysis joined the band; Ron in 2017 and Mike (not to be confused with the original drummer) in 2019. Ron also plays drums for another native Florida band, Brutality. Also in 2019, the brothers have found a very new bassist and according to his info Amon is his first-ever band, and a new vocalist. So by the looks of it the brothers might reunite with the new lineup, maybe return to perform live or even release a new album - just as long as it doesn't sound like shit and mixed properly.