Reign of Depravity

For many, brutal death metal is a joke. Most bands that associate with the genre are unabashedly keen on sounding a coop of pigs, and having riffs that sounds more like Godzilla's chugging footsteps than anything else. Luckily for us though, death metal as a whole is a quite ventured genre, with many offspring and genres that incorporate various styles in the formula. Also luckily for us, Birth Through Gore is not one of them. They neither play the "look how br00tal we are" style of death metal, nor do they play the "way too avant-garde for our own good" style. In many ways, Birth Through Gore play a rather old school style of death metal, and use modernized production skills. A larger portion of the album sounds like Suffocation meets Hate Eternal, and a bit of Decrepit Birth thrown in for good measure. While very technical in its nature, the album is not your typical wankfest that tech death has sadly grown into. The riffs are heavy, the drums are slicing, and the bass is audible. What else do you need? Well, a couple of things if you don't mind.

Firstly, the album is no doubt brutal. But I think in many ways the more "correct" term for Birth Through Gore's music would be somewhere on the line of technical death metal, possibly even technical death thrash since there is some serious thrash influence on this album. For a better part of the album, the drumming is the main focus, and the second being the riffs. The drums may seem a bit too loud in the mix. and in all honesty it is too high in the mix. Death metal relies heavily on drums, and if this is a formula for a more structured sound, so be it. The vocals are along the lines of Erik Rutan's, or Bill Robinson's. While not immensely deep, they sustain in a region of halfway to guttural, yet still very much coherent. I love this. I enjoy death metal best when the vocals are deep and heavy, yet still are coherent and understandable. As mentioned before, while more and more death metal bands think pig squealing is something to be done exclusively and not occasionally, I believe bands should utilize the vocals on "Reign of Depravity" more than anything else. If anything is wrong with the vocals, it's that they are not nearly high enough. The drums and guitar slightly fade the vocals to a lesser volume, and make it difficult for them to be a main focus. As it is, the music is chaotic yet controlled, brutal yet slightly restrained. There is a thrash element to the riffs. One may say the riffs seem influenced by Kreator or Testament at some points, and they are. This is great. Genre blending done right is a beautiful thing, and Birth Through Gore show their influences with searing pride.

In all, "Reign of Depravity" is a solid, solid release. Seeing as all the members of the band are seasoned veterans in the death metal/grindcore scene, it is not hard to understand why the music itself is so brutal. While it has some flaws, the album stays solid throughout, and leaves little hesitation as to what Birth Through Gore's intents are. All this makes for a job well done in my opinion.

Summary - "Reign Of Depravity" is a brutal tech death album with some thrash influence to it. Most recommended for fans of Hate Eternal, Decrepit Birth, and Nile,