...SIŁA I PIĘKNO MUZYKI TKWIĄ W JEJ RÓŻNORODNOŚCI...


..::OPIS::..

Ktoś mądry napisał w Wikipedii, że następca "Once Upon The Cross" w postaci "Serpents Of The Light" to najważniejszy dla zespołu Deicide krążek. Cóż, jeżeli to ma być prawda, to dopisałbym tylko, że ten moment w ich historii rzeczywiście był ważny... jak dla mleka chwila przejścia w stan bryndzy czy dla krwi wieprzowej w kaszankę. "Antybogowie wrócili, brutal as fukk" pisali spece od Roadrunnera. Wtedy jeszcze nikt, komu życie miłe, nie pluł na tę ikonę. Dwa pierwsze genialne krążki i jeden po prostu dobry, to otwarty debet i kredyt zaufania, na którym można trochę pojechać, co najwyraźniej rozumieli Benton, Asheim i Hoffmanowie. Dlaczego? Już śpieszę z wyjaśnieniem. Tym razem po prostu się nie wysilili, za to dali się poznać jako kolejni bohaterowie zapowiadający w mediach marną bździnę - jako najbrutalniejszą muzykę , która światu się nie śniła.

"Węże Światła" to chyba najbardziej przyjazna dla ucha płyta w dorobku Deicide. Zamysł kompozycyjny przypomina nieco "Once Upon The Cross". Znów zaczyna się wątkiem tytułowym, znów jest schemat oparty na jednym motywie i okrojonej solówce, po raz kolejny też świetnie się tego słucha, czyli mamy kolejne koncertowy szlagier. I tak jest na tej płycie - przez jeszcze dwa, góra trzy numery. Kąśliwy "Bastards Of Christ" ze zmyślnie zaaranżowanymi przejściami perkusyjnymi, "Blade It On God" lub "I Am No One" - w co uwierzyć nie mogłem - bezczelnie zerżniętym, tym razem już na pewno, z "Sothis" Vadera. Heh, no cóż i to koniec rozkładu jazdy. Żaden demoniczny autobus z przystanku "Serpents Of The Light" już nie odjeżdża, a nawet jeśli odjeżdża, to tak nieciekawy, że nawet sami zmierzający w stronę piekła o nim zapomną. Jest tu jeszcze sześć kawałków, więc widzicie w czym sęk. "Creatures of Habit", "Believe the Lie" , "The Truth Above", "Father Baker's" - to nie są złe numery, ot wystarczająco dobre, żeby wydać je na płycie, są też jednak przeraźliwie przewidywalne i schematyczne. To jak oglądanie saneczkarzy na olimpiadzie. Za pierwszym, drugim i kilkoma następnymi razami nawet się to super ogląda, jest speed, jest adrenalina, jest nawet kilka zakrętów, ale jeśli to już dziesiąty zawodnik, to powoli zaczyna się szukać kanału pokazującego ligę brazylijskiej piłki kopanej (czyt. np. debiutanckiej płyty Krisiun).

W efekcie, mimo bezproblemowego odsłuchu, w głowie pozostaje początek płyty, a przecież nie do takich albumów przyzwyczajali Deicide przez pierwsze parę lat istnienia. Ktoś powie, co się koleś czepiasz, solidny krążek, ot przynajmniej nie zaczęli grać jak Marny Manson, czy coś. Kłopot jednak jest, bo rok 97 i 98 to także okres premier "Formulas Fatal To The Flesh" Morbid Angel - po jakże fundamentalnej wymianie Davida Vincenta na Steve'a Tuckera - no i "Black To The Blind", na którym Vader już bez Chiny, za to z Mauserem (eks m.in. Christ Agony), miał udowodnić, że potrafi jeszcze nagrać coś na miarę "De Profundis". Na wszystkie te krążki czekało się z zapartym tchem i choć wcale nie okazały się żadnymi opus magnum w karierach tych grup, to jednak porównując - Deicide polegli z kretesem.

Nie wyszła też do końca produkcja, paradoksalnie z powodu swojej czytelności. W końcu wiemy o czym śpiewa Glen Benton. Być może nie rozumiemy, czemu o serialu "Z Archiwum X" w "The Truth Above" , ale przecież koniec końców nie trzeba trzymać przed sobą wkładki i słuchając z kumplami wrzeszczeć "weź cofnij, bo nie wiem o co abla". Potężnie i przestrzennie brzmi jeszcze perkusja, ale gitary to już tragedia. Maksymalnie spłaszczone, jakby im się wikol wylał na gryfy, bez żadnego dołu i charakteru. Po latach Asheim narzekał, że Hoffmannowie chcieli w pewnym momencie wszystko skracać i słuchając ich nieciekawych, a momentami idiotycznie przewidywalnych solówek, jak ta w "Father Baker's", już mu wierzę. Nie tak było na "Legion" czy "Deicide".

No i co zrobić z taką płytą, posłać do gleby? Bynajmniej. Po niej przyszła "When Satan Lives", pierwsza w ich karierze koncertówka, po przesłuchaniu której olśniło mnie. Jakby wziąć połówkę "Once Upon The Cross" i 1/3 "Serpents Of The Light", to udałoby się poskładać naprawdę fenomenalny, pełny krążek na jakieś 9 pkt. A tak dostaliśmy pod rząd półprodukt i "jednatrzeciaprodukt". Nawet jeśli to celowe działanie i wkurwianie Monte Connera, z którym już wtedy ponoć darli czarne koty (ach ten satanizm), to gdzie tu jest miejsce dla oddanych im fanów, co? Za nic nie dam sobie wmówić, że lepiej nie potrafili, a może konkludując z wypowiedzi Bentona, zachwalającego wszem i wobec tę płytę, sukces zwyczajnie odebrał im resztki rozumu, trzymając w pewności, że każdy dźwięk w ich wykonaniu jest genialny? Szkoda słów. Znów powtórzę jak w recenzji "Once Upon...", z tym że z jeszcze niższą oceną: z czystym sumieniem, mocne sześć, ze względu na te kilka hitów, ostatnich jakie udało im się wypracować, aż do 2006 r.

Megakruk


This is a classic, but also a spectacular masterpiece of an album. It contains a lot of Deicides well known, fabolous songs. The sound quality is pretty good and reminds me of their last work "Once upon the cross" (which also is a damn good record). The guitar riffs are as always catchy and groovy, but the technique is missing. The Hoffman brothers are known for their co-operation and on Serpents of the light they are not dissapointing at all.

There is nothing else to say about the drums than: Fantastic! The double bass drums which are played through almost all the songs, really give the songs the little, terrific touch to complete the songs. Steve Asheim also fills in a little more blastbeats than the former albums, and in my opinion that is a positive monument.

Then, finally over to the last member, but also the frontfigure in Deicide, bass-player, lyrical writer and vocalist, Glen Benton. As usual he does a wonderful job. Despite of the fact that he is kind of lazy when it comes to learn the songs, he is a really good bass-player and treats the pick like nobody else. What surprises me once again, is the fabolous vocals on this album! The growling (perhaps the best in the death metal scene) continues over and over again and his screams are better than ever. The vocals are not unexepected, directed against God, Jesus and the christians which in Deicides opinion all are scumbags. The lyrical theme is maybe not changed, but if there is someone who rules the anti-christian lyric empire, it is Glen Benton. The blasphemous words perfectly fit to the music and titles like Bastards of christ, This is hell we`re in and Believe the lie shows Glens hatred against christiannity. (he has maybe been married in a church, but the rumours about him being a christian are only lies).

The final conclusion of this album is that every real death metal fan should have the possibility to hear and enjoy this well made anti-christian phenomenon. My personal favourites are: Serpents of the light (the ultimate intro-track), Bastards of christ(die!), Blame it on God and Slave to the cross.

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It's no secret that Deicide went down the 2000's Slayer route of horrible, HC punk-tier bitching, it's just that I think that they went down this route much sooner that it's often believed. The generally accepted opinion is that the first two albums are legendary, Once Upon the Cross is bland and underwhelming, Serpents of the Light is the last gasp of the Hoffman era with every other album of that era being complete shit, Stench of Redemption is a breath of fresh air, and the rest is forgettable at best. My take is that everything from Serpents of the Light onwards is shit, with each album suffering from the exact same problem that plagues Serpents of the Light.

Anti-christianity is a common lyrical topic in metal, and understandably so, but even in 1997, it was done to death and pretty stale. The way Deicide pulled it off is in no way refreshing, creative, or good, for that matter. Lyrics about all sorts of obscene satanic rituals, serial killers, horror movies and demons surging from the depths of the earth are nowhere to be found here. It's all replaced by cringeworthy, bitchy lyrics that read like an attempt of a 15-year-old Redditor who became an atheist one week ago at being edgy (with the music being no different), and are delivered in a manner that makes Slipknot sound profound. This bullshit is so juvenile that it doesn't even work as shock value or anything even temporarily entertaining, let alone anything thought-provoking. Just take a look at one example of what Glen managed to write with his single-digit IQ:

"He fucked himself to save you - put to death, masochist
For this his word berate truth - agonised, prophecised
Revive the book of fiction - blasphemy, gluttony, to deceive you and me
In battled disposition - hang the bitch on the cross
Entitle his convictions - blasphemous, lunatic, your heart is full of hatred -
BASTARDS DIE, FUCK YOUR CHRIST, WILL SURVIVE,KILL YOURSELF... DIE!!!!!!!!!!"

It's not like me to criticize the lyrics primarily and before anything else, but the music on this album is so generic and derivative that I simply had no choice. Occasional exception aside (and these exceptions are either recycled from the previous three albums and dumbed down, or riffs that merely reach the mark of 'okay' and firmly stay there), the riffs are just a bunch of "rrrr I'm so angryyyyy" tremolos and generic palm-muting that could've easily been written by a computer program (even back in 1997) and are played on exactly three tempos for roughly 98% of the album (fast, slight midpace and 6/8 midpace). There are also completely nonsensical stop-go moments on Blame it on God and Believe the Lie, which most certainly don't make this album any more interesting. If Trey Azagthoth ever wanted to make a half-assed parody of Covenant, he wouldn't use a single riff from this album; that's how dull, mediocre and unimaginative they are. Every song hangs around the three minute mark, has the exact same structure (a song will play two or three riffs in a sequence, repeat them in the same sequence and abruptly end) and the album as a whole is very repetitive (the title track and This is Hell We Live In have the exact same verses while Blame it on God and Slave to the Cross have the exact same chorus, among many other examples of recycling). None of the songs go anywhere; they just exist as fodder for Glen's whining. All of that goes to show just how little effort was put into composing them.

Speaking of Trey, it would be wise to look at what he was doing and thinking at the time. In an interview given at the time of the release of Formulas Fatal to the Flesh, Trey spoke that he was angry at christianity for being forced unto him and limiting his views, and so was attracted to satanism, which he sees as means of destroying christianity's limiting beliefs. So far, we are at Glen's level, and all is okay. But later in the interview, Trey speaks of christianity no longer having hold over him and moving on to doing greater things, which includes contemplating greater ideas, building greater things, and yes, writing greater music. Glen didn't move on (not even after 30 years, which is just sad), and it shows in both the music and the lyrics of this album. It's like a guy who did not get over his ex cheating on him even after several years, and so uses every opportunity to badmouth her to his friends and family; something which they are sorely tired of.

Back to the album. I've already mentioned how the lyrics and their delivery are bad, but I forgot to mention one thing: the vocals. On the first two albums, Glen's unique layering of low gutturals and high snarls evoked the voice of Satan himself. Here, his gutturals sound like a waterfall of diarrhea coming out of the mouth of a homo erectus, while his snarls sound like a parody of Donald Duck. He's not AS awful as on later albums, but he's still pretty damn bad. And these vocals are so in-your-face that it is impossible to ignore them. Same deal with the lyrics which are very clear and discernible, in spite of Glen's excrementitious vocal performance. I hate the "The lyrics and message are more important than the music" idea that some "musicians" have. If you really think so, make a fucking podcast or something and don't pollute the world of music with your worthless trash.

The production is decent, the Hoffman brothers can throw a wicked solo here and there, Asheim is a beast behind the drumkit as usual, the cover is nice (did they predict the "Blue the jew" meme?), but that's about all the praise this piece of shit deserves. At this point in their career, Deicide became a talent vacuum that gave even Iced Earth a run for its money. Not even Ralph Santola's brilliant Olbrich-styled shredding could save The Stench of Redemption (the best post-OUtC Deicide album) since almost every part of that album that isn't a solo is the same generic lowest-common-denominator death metal that Glen has been shitting out since 1997 (the more overt thrash influence does help the matters significantly, but the misplaced melodicism and the general vapidity ultimately ruin the album). Serpents of the Light may technically be one of the better Deicide albums considering how awful their output after it was, but it definitely isn't good on its own, let alone great. Maybe you'll like it if you're immature, angsty and have no standards for death metal (or music in general). I'm way past that phase in my life and I'd rather not revisit it.

The Bard with Bright Eyes



..::TRACK-LIST::..

1. Serpents Of The Light 3:03
2. Bastard Of Christ 2:48
3. Blame It On God 2:45
4. This Is Hell We're In 2:51
5. I Am No One 3:38
6. Slave To The Cross 3:15
7. Creatures Of Habit 3:07
8. Believe The Lie 2:50
9. The Truth Above 2:45
10. Father Baker's 3:36



..::OBSADA::..

Glen Benton - bass, vocals
Eric Hoffman - guitars
Brian Hoffman - guitars
Steve Asheim - drums




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vq5vef7iWWc



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