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THE SICKENING - Death Devastation Decay

GENRE: Death metal
COUNTRY: Norway
FORMAT: CD
LABEL: Xtreem Music
YEAR: December, 2009

RATING: 5/10
REVIEWED BY: PSL
PROVIDED BY: Xtreem Music

The Norwegian four-piece The Sickening doesn't come up with anything unexpected on Death Devastation Decay. The songs are above all conventional and there isn't a whole lot that excites. The problem is that there isn't all that much that set the songs apart from each other, at least not right away.

The vocals and drums are mostly to blame for this, but the production is not without guilt either. The vocals don't change much and it does kill a lot of the riffs. The riffs just seem to vanish among the vocals. The drums also tend to be somewhat alike. It's in particular when drummer Espen Antonsen plays fast, which he does a lot that things become blurry.

Many of the riffs are good, but these tend to die in between the vocals and drums. The production is not without blame when it comes to this. It's like the guitars is too low in the mix. "To Cauge and Fuck the Sockets" and "A Dish So Sweet" show a side of the music that I like. It's catchy and not just a blur of drums, vocals and guitars. And it doesn't exactly hurt either that the four-piece play a bit slower and add a bit of groove now and then in those songs.

The band finish it all of with the Cannibal Corpse song "Hammer Smashed Face". They do this very well. But overall Death Devastation Decay is just another run-of-the-mill effort. There's not a lot to find here, but it's not worse than so much else. I liked some of the songs, but on the whole the music is just too anonymous.


Aggravated Explosive Prolapse of the Bowel To Cauge and Fuck the Sockets A Dish So Sweet Morbid Necro Extremeties Slurping Rotten Remains Obsessed with the Dead Infestors Violent Female Circumcision Castle of Death Death Devastation Decay Hammer Smashed Face
		THE SICKENING - Death Devastation Decay GENRE: Death metal COUNTRY: Norway FORMAT: CD LABEL: Xtreem Music YEAR: December, 2009 RATING: 5/10 REVIEWED BY: PSL PROVIDED BY: Xtreem Music The Norwegian four-piece The Sickening doesn't come up with anything unexpected on Death Devastation Decay. The songs are above all conventional and there isn't a whole lot that excites. The problem is that there isn't all that much that set the songs apart from each other, at least not right away. The vocals and drums are mostly to blame for this, but the production is not without guilt either. The vocals don't change much and it does kill a lot of the riffs. The riffs just seem to vanish among the vocals. The drums also tend to be somewhat alike. It's in particular when drummer Espen Antonsen plays fast, which he does a lot that things become blurry. Many of the riffs are good, but these tend to die in between the vocals and drums. The production is not without blame when it comes to this. It's like the guitars is too low in the mix. "To Cauge and Fuck the Sockets" and "A Dish So Sweet" show a side of the music that I like. It's catchy and not just a blur of drums, vocals and guitars. And it doesn't exactly hurt either that the four-piece play a bit slower and add a bit of groove now and then in those songs. The band finish it all of with the Cannibal Corpse song "Hammer Smashed Face". They do this very well. But overall Death Devastation Decay is just another run-of-the-mill effort. There's not a lot to find here, but it's not worse than so much else. I liked some of the songs, but on the whole the music is just too anonymous.