UMUR "Murderer" is the debut full-length studio album by Danish death metal act Deus Otiosus. The album was released in Europe through F.D.A. Rekotz in August 2010 (and through American Line Productions in Mexico) but it wasn´t until March 2011 that the album saw a worldwide release (also through F.D.A. Rekotz).

The music on the album is old school death metal with the occasional nod towards raw thrash metal. The latter is especially true when it comes to the atonal screaming soloing, but there are also a couple of thrashy riffs here and there featured on the album. Mostly this is an old school death metal album though, with brutal growling vocals, relatively simple and catchy tracks with heavy downtuned riffing and a rhythm section that varies pace from doomy to fast-paced. The sound production is clear (not to be confused with clean) and powerful, which means that you can hear all instruments clearly in the mix. The musicianship is solid although I could have wished for a less monotone growling style. A little more variation and bite in the vocal department could have made the album a little more interesting.

While "Murderer" to my ears is not a perfect death metal release, it´s still an enjoyable and powerful album by Deus Otiosus and fans of old school death metal should find lots to enjoy here. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is warranted.

Time Signature Wall of violence...

Genre: old school death metal

Old school death metal lives! Just check out Deus Otiosus' "Murderer", which is so authentically old school that, had it not been for the refined production and the tight playing, you would be forgiven for mistaking it for an early 90s death metal release.

Shunning the down-tuned guitars, blastbeats and technicalities of modern death metal Deus Otiosus focus on extremely strong riffs, which at times are even death-thrashy, and primitive brutality. Mission accomplished. Virtually all tracks are aggressive and captivating in the sense that they instill an urge to headbang like a madman while playing air guitar. A lot of the tracks are generally uptempo with some heavy passages (and some tracks, like 'Ash World', are more on the heavy side), and Deus Otiosus have managed to capture the spirit and aggression of the death metal bands of the Stockholm-based scene of the early 90s.

The difference between this release and early death metal releases is that the production on "Murderer" is up-to-date and crisp, and Deus Otiosus are much more precise and less sloppy (well, they're not sloppy at all) than many first generation death metal musicians were.

Fans of old school death metal and death-thrash should definitely check this magnificent old school death metal release.