Liar in Wait

So, after many months of scanning the various internet frequencies, former Deicide shredders Eric and Brian Hoffman’s creation has found its way to my ears. I think it’s important that I set the scene for this one, really. The Hoffman brothers were the guitar duo that helmed Deicide’s dissonant riffing since their inception. Deicide was previously known as Amon, and a few demos were released under that name, before they settled on their current moniker. There’s almost hilariously bad blood between the Hoffmans and Deicide frontman Glen Benton, to the point where death threats have been exchanged, and rumours of the attempted murder of Benton by the hands of one of the brothers surfaced, apparently all due to Benton owning the rights to Deicide. With that, the brothers departed and disappeared for a while, resurfacing recently under the name Amon. Deicide have released their best material, in my opinion, thanks to God reincarnate Ralph Santolla, and it’s clear from this offering of crushing death metal, that the Hoffman brothers are much better off not being in Deicide too.

The album kicks off with the pleasing, but not too impressive Among Us. This was actually released a good seven months ago, when the album was originally slated for release. Pushing past a not so mindblowing start, the second track, Eye of the Infinite, showcases just how much the Hoffman brothers have grown in their eight year absence. I was expecting their standard Deicide shred, atonal and an avoidance to melody, but when they claimed that Amon’s work would be more technical than their work with Deicide, I was not expecting this.

I’m not going to lie here. The soloing is incredible. It’s mature, insanely fast, and quite surprisingly melodic. Very reminiscent of Malmsteen in my mind. The Hoffman brothers’ fretboard pyrotechnics are clearly the star of the show here, with solo after solo adding a hugely dynamic atmosphere to the Morbid Angel-esque brutality. I’ve heard some great solos, but this is just glorious. The rapid alternate picking sections and impressively clean sweep picking, coupled with a clearly improved knowledge of theory and neoclassical playing, make these just incredibly fun to listen to.

The rest of the band perform admirably. Jechael, Amon’s vocalist and bassist, is clearly not fucking around with the idea of being incredibly low. In fact, he went so far as to conscript the use of a seven string bass, though it is admittedly wasted on this album. No, again, the guitars are the stars of the show. His vocals are great, though. He can growl as well as the best of the death metal crowd, and his screams are refreshing. Drummer Mike Petrak is brilliant throughout, blasting almost constantly, and adding some great, if slightly uncreative fills.

As I said, I was not expecting this. I must admit, Deicide has proved far greener pastures in the Hoffman brothers’ absence, but they have proved that they too are far better off without their former band. The riffs are brilliant, subtly technical, and very creative. While the album seems to deliberately avoid the hooks and catchy side of death metal, that’s what makes it catchy. It’s so inaccessible that it’s incredibly fun to listen to for an ear trained to technical death metal.

I highly recommend this album to anyone who was a fan of Scars of the Crucifix and more recent Deicide material. The ideas are original, and Eric and Brian seem to have taken with them the best elements of pre-Santolla Deicide, and improved on them with maturity, focus and complexity. The songs aren’t the aimless and quite generic older Deicide material that was expected, but fresh and lucid auditory assaults. The production is solid, the sound is balanced well, and the drums have a brilliant acoustic feel to them. I am monumentally pleased with this album. So please that I can even forgive the seven month wait.