01. Not Dead Enough
02. Let Chaos Prevail
03. Dark Turns Black
04. Cult Of Sickness
05. God Said Suffer
06. To See The Last One Die
07. Self-caged
08. End Of Evolution
09. The Uncrowned
10. Baptized In Enmity
Comentario:
Long awaited 3rd album of finnish Death Metal legends!! Intense, crushing & technical Death with Thrash hints of the highest quality, setting new standards with their unique & original vision, this album will become an instant classic. A must have!!
Demigod’s debut full-length effort Slumber Of Sullen Eyes from 1992 may not have been the biggest selling release or the most recognised at the time, but in the years since then, it’s been hailed as a death metal masterpiece, and one of the Scandinavian scene’s landmark releases.
With little recognition for their efforts at the time, the Finnish act disbanded in 1994 to focus on other musical projects, only to return in 1997 with a revamped line-up and a surprisingly new direction on their sophomore effort Shadow Mechanics in 2002 (which was released through Spikefarm Records). While many found the progression between Slumber Of Sullen Eyes and Shadow Mechanics a little too advanced and dramatic, the change at least proved that Demigod weren’t interested in sticking around to reproduce the same album, time and time again.
It took another five years and another line-up change for the five piece act (comprising of vocalist Tuomas Ala-Nissilä, guitarists Jussi Kiiski, and Tuomas Karppinen, bassist Sami Vesanto and drummer Tuomo Latvala) to finally emerge with their independently released third full-length effort Let Chaos Prevail. Two years on from its initial release (and a year after the band split up for good), the album has been given a long overdue local release.
Much like the shift in direction between the band’s two releases, Let Chaos Prevail shows a further move into new territory for Demigod, with the bulk of the album relying on groove orientated direction, and Ala-Nissilä adopting an almost clean hardcore-like approach to his vocals.
The opening track “Not Dead Enough” is fairly indicative of what the album has in store for its ten track duration, with Demigod putting forth a punishing yet catchy groove based death metal sound amid subtle flourishes of the band’s technical precision of their past work heard throughout the riff and solo work.
The title track “Let Chaos Prevail,” “Baptized In Enmity” and “Cult Of Sickness” are just some of the faster efforts on the album that stand strong within the track listing, while the progressive/experimental “God Said Suffer,” “To See The Last One Die” and “The Uncrowned” are the pick of the remainder of the album.
Let Chaos Prevail certainly isn’t the classic that Slumber Of Sullen Eyes was all those years ago, but then Demigod isn’t the same band they were back in 1992 either. Both time and the members have moved on since then, and so has their music.
Overall, while Let Chaos Prevail is hardly a cutting edge release within the death metal realm, it’s a solid album from Demigod, and features enough surprises to keep those interested in the band’s output pleased for the most part.
Even though Demigod’s debut album ‘The Slumber of Sullen Eyes’ ranks right up there in my all time favourite Scandinavian death metal albums ever, I was disappointed by the 2nd release of these Finnish death metallers. It was to be expected of course, taking into account the fact that there was a ten year gap between the two albums, not to mention a number of line up changes affecting the overall sound of the band.
Released 5 years after their somewhat sub-standard sophomore release ‘Shadow Mechanics’, ‘Let Chaos Prevail’ – the band’s 3rd album – shows a touch more promise. Musically, it’s still very different from their classic debut, but it’s much easier to stomach this time around due to the fact there seems to be a marked improvement in song writing, and a few signs of past glories here and there when it comes to riff work. Although a lot cleaner and sterile sounding that their eerie debut (well, it’s bound to be isn’t it – it’s not 1992 anymore), Demigod still manage to pound and crush, even with the huge swathes of melody saturating the music. The multi-tracked guitar work skids around like a jack-knifing juggernaut, underpinned by huge sounding drum battery and crushing bass work throughout the album, with guitars teaming up to pour forth viscous evil twin melodies as riffs, as Tuomas bellows his guts out about death, destruction and your usual tales of the macabre.
The vocals are a bit of a sticking point for me, as at times they seem to adopt a ‘hardcore’ like bark at times (think Carnal Forge rather than Morbid Angel) - not my cup of tea really. But with that said, they fall in and out of phase between that and the regular ‘accepted’ death metal cookie monster growl, so it’s not unbearable.
Overall, between the three albums these guys have released, their debut effortlessly pisses over this from a great height. It just sounds as though they’ve lost that early fire to really make sick, eerie death metal. However, this still serves its purpose as a fairly decent (if not slightly too sanitary for my liking) death metal album.
"Let Chaos Prevail" is the third album of this Finnish band formed in 1990. "Let Chaos Prevail" is an album that presents the versatility and the technique of this veteran band, therefore constant sonorous variations maintain weight and speed in the right measure. The bases are heavy, but it escape from the boring repetitive weight, maintaining a lot of variations between weight and speed. The fast riffs happen with natural tempos changes, converging for a technical and select sonority. "Let Chaos Prevail" is not a super speedy album, but it is a fast album and in the weight moments a constant and cadenced speed prevails in a potent and vigorous sonorous structure. "Let Chaos Prevail" is an album with an excellent quality recording, maintaining the naturalness of the instrument timbre in all the sonorous aspects, mainly in the sonorous variations sound clear and technique. "Let Chaos Prevail" is not an album with technical exaggerations, is not an exaggeratedly heavy album and is not also an album in the light velocity. "Let Chaos Prevail" is an album with all the necessary elements to sound heavy, fast and technician without sounding exaggerating, however it is an album heavier than fast. Demigod presents distinct influences from Traditional Death Metal, Thrash Metal and some passages Heavy Metal, however prevails a potent Death Metal. And we could not wait less of a band with almost 18 years of existence, therefore Demigod has a sonority with own style at the same time feeds the sonorous structure with all the influences, technique and accumulated knowledge in almost 18 years.
Bardzo już doświadczona, fińska grupa DEMIGOD dorobiła się trzeciego długograja. Na „Let Chaos Prevail” serwuje dziesięć przystawek, trochę przyprawionych wedle pikantnej receptury, a trochę przygotowanych na słodko. Klasyczny, agresywny death metal tego zespołu jest zarazem melodyjny. Chwytliwy tym bardziej, że przetacza się w średnio-szybkich tempach. więc nie tak zabójczych, że aż buty spadają... Wszystkie utwory są dość krótkie i zwarte w budowie. Płyta DEMIGOD jest zazwyczaj jednorodna stylistycznie, choć zdarzają się małe wyjątki: jakieś łupane, thrashowe czy też deathcore`owe riffy czy też „To See the Last One Die” - utwór troszkę inny, dynamiczny, jednak z czystymi gitarami i wtrąconym szeptem. Pod względem aranżacyjnym, technicznym i brzmieniowym jest dobrze. Słychać nawet fajnie pykający bas, więc jest ok. Generalnie „Let Chaos Prevail” to krążek bez rewelacji, ale bardzo przyzwoity...
Sin haber iniciado mi nueva etapa académica, para gozo de nadie, regreso a las andadas por puro mono (y estéreo, primera bromaza postvacacional), porque ya tocaba y porque algo que me está irritando durante estos últimos días (el tiempo libre da para muchos pensamientos inútiles xD) es la atención que están focalizando ciertas bandas "retiradas" que aprovechan el tirón que tiene ahora el 'old school'... como lo 'retro' a esa banda que conforman los modernitos, los cuales descubrieron la filmografía de Corey Feldman o Rob Lowe porque se empezaron a creer raritos viendo "La Hora Chanante" y también creían que el sentido del humor puede estar en posesión de cualquiera.
Bien, pues ese elenco de grupos reunificados para sacar los cuartos a la gran panda de 'casuals' que se creen unos expertos (o peor, algunos se autodenominan y pretenden actuar como 'kvlts') en "su" materia como el 99 % de elementos que ayer pululaban por el Palacio de Deportes de Madrid, aparte de pasar a formar parte de mi club de la ignominia, lógicamente dan lugar a la injusta marginación de nuevas promesas o viejas glorias que se mantuvieron a pie de cañón, como es el caso de los frustrados, si estuviera en su lugar, Demigod.
Desde su clásico Slumber Of Sullen Eyes, Jussi Kiiski y Tero Laitinen (que conforman el alma máter), editaron durante una década diversas demos hasta que les llegó una nueva oportunidad de la mano de Spikefarm con el jodidamente maltratado Shadow Mecanics, tanto por parte de público (nunca salieron de sus tierras hasta un festival alemán este año) como de la propia discográfica, que no debió depositar excesiva confianza en su extraordinario talento pero por suerte, Xtreem Music salió al rescate con la redición de su primer álbum y este último "Let Chaos Prevail", que ha tardado en salir 5 eternos e impacientes años, por mi parte.
Aquí hallaremos la evolución lógica que ha tomado Demigod, una versión 1.5 de lo que nos ofrecían antes, death de corte finlandés con variaciones de tempo, riffs fríos y técnicamente calculados, cuyo único símil que se me ocurre es Amoral (por las características citadas, no por poseer un mismo sonido) e igual que con el 'Shadow', nos encontraremos un disco sólido y variado, incluso con su inicio/amago propio de los repetitivos Obituary o un equivalente lento y oscuro de Crimson Tears como sucede con God Said Suffer (prefiero la anterior, todo sea dicho).
Creo que deben ser destacadas Dark Turns Black, con unos cambios de velocidad que sin ser bruscos resultan efectivos, la directa Cult Of Sickness, la poderosa To See The Last One Die que junto con la templadita The Uncrowned, demuestran que se puede crear un ambiente especial con las guitarras sin necesidad de resultar soporíferos o directamente lo llamamos SLUDGE.
Para los que suden de tendencias y les guste lo sobrio, como la trilogía de Bourne o el pan con aceite y sal, dadles una oportunidad, no os arrepentiréis.
I´m holding something in my hands at this very moment that I´ve been waiting impatiently for for ages to come out: Namely, the mighty Finnish tech-thrashers Demigod´s 3rd full-length album, LET CHAOS PREVAIL. For the record, Demigod´s previous album, SHADOW MECHANICS, was released via Spikefarm Records in 2002, so I guess it´s actually pretty fair to say that it is about the time to get a new album out from these at least semi-legendary ´demi-dudes´, right dear folks?
A couple of words of fair warning for starters though. If your only experience with Demigod is restricted to from the band´s demo days to their massive Death Metal cult album SLUMBER OF SULLEN EYES, then stop right there, hold your breath, sit down comfortably and have a cold ´n´ tasty Karhu beer for yourself. Then relax...and listen a minute. For the band´s SLUMBER and post-SLUMBER era fans, it should be told to all of you that LET CHAOS PREVAIL introduces Demigod as a whole different sounding band from the one that you may remember from the days of SLUMBER (and further back in the past). In fact, Demigod´s predecessor SHADOW MECHANICS already spoke clearly about what´s to come from the Demigod camp musically. There were already all the signs on SHADOW MECHANICS painted with deep colors into the horizon that Demigod´s Death Metal era could rightfully be talked about in the past tense - and LET CHAOS PREVAIL, Demigod´s newest 10-song effort, proves that fact even stronger and clearer. However, I also have to say that I don´t feel much sorrow for the band´s magnificent Death Metal years: they are gone - just like Demigod´s two very influential song writers, Esa Lindén and Seppo Taatila, too. I do adore everything they did in the past - and yes, SLUMBER OF SULLEN EYES is still one of the most impressive Death Metal albums ever made in my books of glory and admiration. But that era of Demigod has come to its end a long time ago already, so we´d better start to live with that and start looking a bit further to a new horizon to what these fellows can actually still offer to us in 2007. Sounds like fair game, doesn´t it?
The album is started off with a heavily riff-driven “Not Dead Enough” that showcases Demigod´s extraordinary sense for some really killer, unusual, hypnotic riff-fests. I know this ain´t the first time from me to say, but Demigod has a thing or two in common with the now defunct Canadian tech-thrashers Obliveon musically - and “Not Dead Enough” proves it quite clearly. After the kick-ass opener, the album´s title track “Let Chaos Prevail” is let in, Demigod pushes determinedly forward, just adding a bit more tempo and heaviness - allowing "Let Chaos Prevail" to strike ruthlessly with its own heaviness against its listener´s face. Also, pay attention to Tuomas´ vocal parts, they are truly powerful, and in fact he has never sounded better. Tuomas´ use of his voice somewhere in between death grunts and more thrash style of vocalism, and his dark and angry vocals fit to Demigod´s songs perfectly.
“Dark Turns Black” comes up next - and if you thought this legendary furious Finnish bunch was about to calm down for a moment, you´re wrong. The tempo has dropped a bit, but at the same time, a fair dose of heaviness has been thrown in. In “Dark Turns Black” some of Demigod´s well-known, trademark-ish guitar melodies penetrates through the surface of the song structure and overall the song represents one of the heaviest songs that they have written since the beginning of 2005.
“Cult of Sickness” sees Demigod breaking again some barricades with their fast, up-tempo riffs ´til the middle part of the songs breaks in with its somewhat familiar Obliveon´ish vibes. Yet again, some truly excellent riffs dominate this song from start to end, leaving overall a good aftertaste in the listener´s mind. “Cult of Sickness” serves as a sort of counterbalance to the next song, titled “God Said Suffer”, which turns out to be probably the most eerie and creepiest sounding tune on LET CHAOS PREVAIL. There´s actually not that much happening in this song, but to make a song stand out by its own simple ingredients, it definitely demands some inborn sense to catch all those necessary and vital elements for the song to work. And that´s exactly what “God Said Suffer” does indeed. Another brilliantly composed song from Demigod - just no more, no less.
“To See the Last One Die” insists that the listener turn up the volume to a maximum level due to an incredible riff-fest the song holds inside. A song itself is kind of like the calm before the actual storm - and when this particular song bursts into a full-scale all-annihilating metallic storm, Demigod doesn´t stop ´til they see the last one die... you.
“Self-caged” introduces some intriguing Demigod elements again - those being strong and eerie melody lines that have become one of their true trademarks over the years. The song is kinda simple structurally, and partly lacks the same effective punch that most of their songs normally have. However, “Self-caged” is no filler by any means though.
It´s in “End of Evolution” where the guys return to their path where they can shred a bit more again and show as proof to everyone that they aren’t going to milk their legacy of their awe-inspiring debut album, SLUMBER OF SULLEN EYES. And right after they have thrown in the last two numbers off LET CHAOS PREVAIL, “The Uncrowned” and “Baptized in Enmity”, it´s proven Demigod has neither dropped the ball nor even ever lost it (if some of you have these kinds of vile thoughts in your mind) as far as their outstanding song writing capability is concerned. In 2007 Demigod definitely knows how to deliver...big time!
LET CHAOS PREVAIL is a fully enjoyable and highly dynamic Demigod album. It doesn´t pale in comparison to anything they have done before if you just remember to keep in your mind it´s a long way they have struggled from the days of SLUMBER all the way up to their 3rd album. Therefore let´s take our hats off for Demigod for this achievement of true strength and survival, ok?
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