arcane-beautiful Having released the album of there career, Deicide basically had to go through the difficult phase of doing another album since the success of their last one. With the new line up still in tact, the band went into the studio again, to make something a little bit different.

Having been a massive fan of the previous album, I was very excited to hear a new album from these guys, and I have to admit, I was rather surprised with this one.

Now, this is a rather different album, so I should warn you, expect the unexpected. This album is a concept album, which is rather odd for these guys...and it is a rather rare thing to see coming from a death metal band. Glen, who had just divorced his wife, decided to make an album of fury against the whole idea of marriage. It took me a while to figure this all out, but having noticed the non blasphemous titles of the songs, it started to dawn me...and you have to admit. It makes perfect sense.

Musically the band have taken the sound they created on the last album and took it to even better and more extreme heights. One of the oddest things about this album is that some of the guitar work was actually done by drummer Steve Ashiem, which could explain the rather dark feel about the album. The album itself is also a rather varied mix, so expect a bit of everything, and basically summing up everything great and wonderful about death metal.

The only small criticism I would have with this album is the vocals. On the last album Glen's vocals where at their form, but on this album they can sound rather week at times. I don't know whether this is due to the mixing or not, but it is only a small annoyance. The music is a lot more encapsulating.

The album opener “The Beginning Of The End” is a brilliantly crafted instrumental piece, with some rather dark epic and black metal sounding moments.

The title track is something rather different for the band. With a rather slower pace, it really shows off the epicness of the music that these guys can create.

One of the best songs on the album has to be “In The Eyes Of God.” With some insane vocals from Glen, it definitely has one of the strongest chorus' on the album.

One of the most insanely catchy songs comes in the form of “Angel Of Agony.” With a catchy chorus and blastbeats from hell, this song will give you an orgasmic headache.

The band's longest composition “Horror In The Hall's Of Stone” is definitely one of the band's most interesting songs. Taking a lot of interesting twists and turns, the song is a pretty epic piece of music. The album's closing instrumental “The End Of The Beginning” is a pretty insane and fierce closing instrumental.

In conclusion, this album is something very different, but I have to admit, this album is pretty much an experience that I would recommend. There is something rather brilliant about this album. There is some minor flaws and peeves I hold against it, but there are some absolute tunes on this album. It really is a shame that they don't play any of these songs live, because there are complete classics on this album.

8.3/10

UMUR Till Death Do Us Part is the 9th full-length studio album by American death metal act Deicide. The album was released by Earache Records in April 2008. At this point Deicide were more or less decimated to a duo consisting of Glen Benton on vocals and bass and Steve Asheim on drums, all rythm guitars and lead guitars on the tracks The Beginning of the End, Severed Ties, Angel of Agony and Horror in the Halls of Stone. Jack Owen and Ralph Santolla share the additional lead guitar duties on most tracks, but they were not really members of the band at this point.

The music on the album is brutal and mostly fast-paced to blasting death metal. There are a couple of more heavy tracks on the album though which is something new on a Deicide album and a nice variation if you ask me. The opening track The Beginning of the End, the 6:23 minute long Horror in the Halls of Stone and the closing track The End of the Beginning is connected to Horror in the Halls of Stone are, with their more heavy pace and dark atmosphere, actually the highlights of the album for me. The rest of the songs are of the usual good quality but nothing special IMO. The fact that Glen Benton sounds like a hoarse dog without punch doesn´t help on my impression. This has got to be one of his worst vocal performances and it really drags my rating down. With accomplished lead guitarists like the above mentioned it´s safe to say that the guitar solos on the album are of high quality. The production is allright but nothing out of the ordinary.

Till Death Do Us Part is as such a good quality death metal album by Deicide, but the vocals and the general formulaic songwriting approah aren´t very interesting IMO. It´s nice to hear that the band try something new on the slower songs, but it´s not enough to raise my 3 star rating.