Devourment - Conceived In Sewage (2013)

Devourment - Conceived In Sewage (2013)




INFO:

The American brutal death metal band, Devourment, began their career in the year of 1995. Following that they released three demos until they landed their debut album “Molesting the Decapitated” in the year of 1999. The album was well received, but the band was put to rest in year 2002 when contemporary lead singer (and now current guitarist) Ruben Rojas was incarcerated. The band reformed in the year of 2005 where Ruben Rojas then began playing guitar and contemporary bassist and Mike Majewski, took the vocal duties. Since 2005 they have released three DVDs, three split albums, two full-length albums, and this is their now third one, “Conceived in Sewage”, since their reformation.

This album brings you brutal death metal as we know it from,,for instance, the pioneers, Cannibal Corpse, from the brutal vocals, blast beats, and the occasional bass lines as well as the chainsaw-like riffing. Compared to the phenomenal debut, “Molesting the Decapitated”, “Conceived in Sewage” has a perhaps softer approach and more death metal-like sound instead of the even heavier guitar and even deeper vocals that “Molesting the Decapitated” presents. It should be pointed out that Devourment do not completely turn away from brutal death metal on this album.

The songs on “Molesting the Decapitated” are generally longer than on “Conceived in Sewage”. You can’t escape the fact that the album cover on this release is by far more awesome than on the debut, but the band has a bit different approach now and they may have lost a bit of their breath. Mike Majewskis' vocals ranges deep, but not as deep as Ruben Rojas’ did. It varies a bit between deeper growls and the more usual type of growling, perhaps to give the album a bit of variation, but it is usually the same stuff you hear on this album except the small instrumental “March to Megiddo”, which has alarm and marching sounds blended with guitar riffing and drumming, but this is far from anything unique and is rather a prelude to some more of what we’ve heard on the album so far.

The lyrics of this album are not very different compared to many other death metal bands. It’s mostly about sex, death, weapons, and murder and there is not much different here if you are willing to dig down into the lyrics in this genre. Personally, it is not something that I care too much about since I can barely make out any words of what is being growled.

The general production on this album is good; there are not really any instruments which are unheard except the bass that pass by here and there. It can be heard on the first track, “Legalize Homicide”, but besides that we do not hear much from bassist Chris Andrews. The drums are usually blast beats or different rhythms, but it’s not something spectacular, yet drummer Erik Park does a fine job nonetheless. The guitar has the usual chainsaw sound that you usually experience in this genre.

As a conclusion, I have to say that this album is not really an album I will listen to in the future. There is too little variation and the genre is not totally in my taste. I think that if you dig well enough down the death metal genre you will find some fantastic gems that are much better than this, but if you are a great fan of death metal, I think you can find some decent material on this album.

Devourment's 1999 debut 'Molesting the Decapitated' has been hailed as a landmark release in the slam death genre (basically brutal death metal with an excess of breakdowns). Following a never ending change of members and general troubles within the band we find ourselves in the year 2013 and the release of the bands mere fourth full-length.

Compared to the debut the breakdowns on 'Conceived in Sewage' are kept to a minimum revealing a rather standard brutal death metal sound, thus losing what once made Devourment fairly original. The music is generally well performed and the vocals and production ok. Still I can't help to notice I have heard every single note on this album before. This is nothing more than a standard garden variety brutal death metal album.

What makes matters even worse is the lack of songwriting skills. This is predictable, boring and follows every rule in the book. A few times some of the songs take a bit of an interesting development, but they generally fade back into boredom and predictability before they get the chance to take of properly. I sincerely cannot pick a single favourite track from this album and most of the time I find myself thinking of what to have for dinner or urging to switch to the new Suffocation instead.

There are some brilliant bands out there bending the rather narrow brutal death metal formula making for an interesting listen. The Devourment of 2013 is not one of those bands. If you're new to the genre you might love this. If you've been around for a while, try Prostitute Disfigurement or Skinless instead.

TRACKLIST:

01. Legalize Homicide
02. Fifty Ton War Machine
03. Conceived In Sewage
04. Fucked With Rats
05. March to Megiddo
06. Today We Die, Tomorrow We Kill
07. Heaving Acid
08. Carved Into Ecstasy
09. Parasitic Eruption

Genre: Death
Subgenre: Brutal Death Metal
Bitrate: 320 k
Size: 100.31 MB

Credit Goes To LaVey Of Rockbox