Dead Congregation - Promulgation of the Fall

If you're like me, you've heard an awful lot of hype for the new album from Dead Congregation. When the Greeks released their debut six years ago, the death metal underworld excitedly gobbled it up, and it's taken until now for the band's sophomore full-length to emerge. With that it mind, there was clearly a lot of anticipation, so it's no surprise that it seems like everybody is talking about it now that it's been released. So does it live up to the hype?

Well, partially. The record features some excellent creeping, dissonant guitar riffs (especially on the tracks Serpentskin and Schisma). The drumming is strong, though not especially unique, and there's more notable bass presence than on most death metal albums. On the other hand, the vocals are pretty standard fare. They're fine, but generic. The band opts for a doomy flavor, which can be excellent for providing darkly atmospheric heaviness in death metal, but compared to some other recent releases in this vein, Dead Congregation's effort fails to make the same kind of impact. The slower parts do give more room for the guitar riffs, which are the clear highlight, to unfold. I'm not convinced that those riffs are enough to lift this record beyond good into great, though.

My total reaction, then, is something like my reaction to Behemoth's new album early this year. Yes, it's good. But for a record that I'm hearing "album of the year" buzz about, it just doesn't seem as special to me as a lot of other people seem to think it is.

Grade: B+