In this series of posts I'll discuss an album I picked up as a teenager or my early 20s and haven't listened to in a very long time.
I've always thought this was a musically impressive, brutal slab of death metal - and I still do. But I also remember it being a little too big for it's boots, with a bit of a slogging length and a handful of tracks that go on for too long. Erm, I still find this to be true! The album is around 1 hour and 7 minutes long, and aside from intro track 'Where Is Your God Now' (which is just a sample from the film The Passion of the Christ) and the unusual cover of Yngwie Malmsteen's 'Disciples of Hell', every other song on here ranges from 6, 7, 8 and 9 minutes. In many cases, this doesn't automatically make an album bad - but I do find it to be a little pretentious in the case of death metal like this. These track lengths drift into progressive metal territory, and even though Vital Remains do throw in plenty of melodic guitar solos to counter the brutality of the riffs, I can't call this a progressive metal album, or even a progressive death metal album for that matter. Listen to something like Opeth's Still Life - now that's progressive death metal! Meanwhile, you won't be finding any ballads or truly mellow moments on Icons of Evil! Well, apart from the odd acoustic solo, like on 'Reborn the Upheaval of Nihility' that is! Yes, the album is too long then. The quality of the musicianship is tip-top, sure, but there's only so much of this I can take before it all gets too much. And that's Icons of Evil's biggest problem. It's a pretty big problem to have, because it means I don't want to hear this thing in full very often.
Having said all that, the good news is that the overblown length of this album is the only real issue to speak of. The songs are all very good individually. Dave Suzuki has to be one of the most underrated multi-instrumentalists in death metal, no?! Dude is a maestro, pulling off all the fancy lead guitar work, bass and even drums. The guitar solos are insanely tight and technical, full of sweep-picking and shredding, while the drums are played at break-neck speed, blast beats written all over them. Plus, alongside rhythm guitarist Tony Lazaro, Suzuki writes all the music here. The man is one hell of a player. Also, Glen Benton is one hell of a vocalist. Obviously this is the man in charge of legendary death metal band Deicide, but of all the vocal performances I've heard from him, Icons of Evil is up there as one of his best (in my opinion of course). And I like Deicide! On this album though, he's an absolute beast, roaring his way through every song. The lyrics he spouts are predictably anti-Christian, but what else do you expect to come out of Glen Benton's mouth?!
Like I said, the songs are really cool on an individual level, even if sitting through this thing in one go is a bit of a challenge. The songs are monstrously heavy, the riffs are relentless, the drums are shattering and the vocals are animalistic. But all those added guitar leads do provide balance to the sheer heaviness of the riffs - the songs are as brutal as you want them to be, but the solos do at least keep you on your toes. I know I've moaned about the album being too long, but can you imagine if the album was still the same length without the guitar solos?! I think there's some definite snobbery going on in terms of the technicality of the music; Dying Fetus for example, are as technical as they come - but most of their albums don't even break 40 minutes. So I do feel like there's some showing off from the band members with Icons of Evil, but like I said, I still think the songs are good. Songs like the title track, 'Hammer Down the Nails', 'Scorned' and 'Shrapnel Embedded Flesh' are mighty impressive and make for great, testosterone-pumping listening in the gym.
I think the production is really solid too. Handled by notable death metal producer and current lead guitarist for Cannibal Corpse, Erik Rutan, the album has an organic sound that is refreshing for such a technically-impressive record like this. Nothing feels fake or over-produced, with guitar tones that actually sound achievable without 1000s of £ worth of pedals. I haven't picked up my guitar for a long time, but I did play a lot in my youth - and that's how I feel about the guitars on this album anyway. Maybe the vocals are mixed a little too loud, but that's the only thing I can really gripe about regarding this album's mix.
Had this album lasted somewhere around the 45-50 minute mark, I'd probably have rated it a high 8/10. Honestly, the album gives me an adrenaline rush... for about 45-ish minutes, and then I start to get tired and want to listen to something else! Don't get me wrong, I do listen to playlists - particularly in the gym. But at home or when driving I'm primarily an album guy, and I can't just overlook the fact Icons of Evil is too fuckin' long for it's own good! Consistently impressive songwriting/performances doesn't mean the album doesn't overstay it's welcome! Still, there is plenty of really strong death metal to digest here, and like I said before, the songs are all very solid on an individual level. I'm not crazy about the Yngwie cover ('Disciples of Hell'), but even that isn't terrible. Overall, the album is about as good as I remembered.
Adam's rating: 7.7/10
