UMUR "The Healing Process" is the 2nd full-length studio album by Canadian deathcore act Despised Icon. Despised Icon released their debut full-length studio album "Consumed by Your Poison" through Galy Records in 2002 and received a lot of praise for that album, which must have ignited the interest of Century Media Records who signed the band for the release of "The Healing Process" in April 2005 (and re-released "Consumed by Your Poison" in 2006).

The music on "The Healing Process" pretty much continues down the same brutal and groove based deathcore sound as was the case on "Consumed by Your Poison". Everything is just a notch better on "The Healing Process". The sound production is professional, clear and powerful, the musicianship is on a high level and the songwriting has also matured, which combined make "The Healing Process" quite the enjoyable deathcore album. With what seems almost effortlessly the band deliver a brutal punch in the face but at the same time understand how to vary their music and entertain their listeners, so that the album doesn´t become too one-dimensionally brutal. They´ve simply added more details and hooklines to the music, which were features I felt weren´t focused on enough on the debut album.

It´s pretty much deathcore by the book, with faster technical parts and crushingly heavy and groove based breakdowns, but these guys do it better than most other acts on the genre. Their brutal grooves are especially strong and headbanger friendly. The two lead vocalists in the band vary their vocals from brutal deep growling, to raw shouting, to higher pitched aggressive screaming, to piggy squeals. The latter vocal style is kept to a minimum on this album compared to how much it was used on the debut album.

At 32:08 minutes "The Healing Process" isn´t a very long album, but I´ll take quality over quantity any day and Despised Icon delivers quality deathcore during the full playing time, so there´s nothing to complain about there. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is warranted.