DEUTERONOMIUM - THE AMEN

Deuteronomium is back with a bulldozer of an album. This latest release is entitled The Amen and it hits like a semi truck. Their early material to me was such a treat, describing it as ‘death and roll.’  Heavy duty rock n roll infused death metal riffs, with the gargling glass vocals of Miika Partala.  At times almost feeling groovy yet never swaying completely away from death metal.

Their last album Deathbed Poetry was full on death metal, except clean vocals were used to the disappointment of some (but not this reviewer). That release also saw very little of the rock n roll vibe of earlier releases. The Amen takes a big swig of that earlier death n roll vibe and just crushes it out.

Dead Man Dancing opens this disc and it simply rules. The guitars blast away and the vibe just grabs you, moving into In the Midst of Lions is another strong mix of death metal with a pseudo groove rock n roll. The riffs are strong and deliver the strength of a cement truck (are you getting the idea this is a heavy platter of metal goodness??)

Jehovah Sabaoth is one of the faster paced tracks and demands your attention. You can just see the windmills and hair flying, but lyrically this bit of metal whimsy is a praise track.  A haunting metal melody of the lower keys is present that adds a particularly ominous feeling to the entire proceeding.

Of note is also that many of the tracks fall into that classic Deuteronomium time frame of 2 – 3 ½ minutes. Yeah there are some tracks that are longer (Hymn of a Lost) stretches out to over eight minutes! But for the most part Deuteronomium hits it hard and fast with out losing the listener in a wash of musical carnage.

With a tight production that favors the guitars in a solid package, each instrument has place in the mix with a powerful rhythm section that carries the freight. The aforementioned Hymn for example is perfect example of that strong arm drumming by Janne Jussi Kontoniemi, his kick drum plows the road ahead.  The overall sound of this release is exceptional.

Lyrically this album defines the nature of a Christian Death Metal act, or as they would say “Death Metal with LIFE!”  Jesus is praised and God is honored with the content of each song, check out Psalm 117 for a quick example. Understand this is a world class release that will have metal heads world wide raising their fists and banging their heads with joy.

Finland’s Deuteronomium have done it again with a high quality release of world class metal music. Hard to imagine that they’ve been at this for twenty years but I could find no better way to celebrate that anniversary than with an album such as this. Grab a copy of The Amen and see you down front! T-shirts please!!

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