The beginning song to this album was a classic title-track, but the album as a whole is filled with putrid vocals and mediocre guitar riffs even with the Hoffman brothers in the band. I just thought that the backup screams drowned out the riffs so it was hard to hear the guitar fully. That's my major beef with the album. Otherwise, the riffs that could be hear were classic Deicide. The leads too were quite awesome especially since Eric Hoffman was coached by Ralph Santolla.

I think that this album is quality death metal, just nothing that fantastic. The riffs follow the vocals, but they don't really stick in your mind. Fast tempo guitar a lot of the time which was classic during the Hoffman brother's era. However, not enough good riffs to make the album that noteworthy. Just the title-track really sticks to me and it's a song that cannot be outplayed. The riffs were simply awesome and the vocals weren't really annoying.

Of course the lyrical topics are the same as expected. But you couldn't really make out what Glen was saying only if you look at the insert it gives the lyrics to all of the songs. Mindless writings that are wholly worthless and the Satanic stuff just gets old after a while. It doesn't take much thought to put in anti-Christianity lyrics to an album. Without the Hoffman brothers, Deicide just isn't the same. They made Deicide awesome, Glen sure didn't. His vocal outputs here show no talent whatsoever.

The lead guitars on the album were really well put out. Arpeggios, sweep picking, high quality tremolo picked scales to the core. The rhythms just needed improvement. There wasn't anything that really stuck out to me except like I said the title track. It's the only song that really deserves praise on here. I don't know why they put together putrid music after the first song. There should've been more thought put into the rest of the album.

Production wise everything was well mixed, but the vocals (high pitched screams) drowned out the guitar as I mentioned. That really dampened everything. It took away what the album could've been seriously. If there wasn't backup screams that went along with the low end bellowing then I would give this release a better rating. Some people like this album and I do too, but the vocals just get annoying after a while. Too much screaming and not enough guitar sound to go along with it.

I'd say that this is the last mediocre release by Deicide. They should've just called it quits after this one. What they play now is just pure poor death metal. Scars of the Crucifix would've made it better if Glen would've taken the time to construct his vocals so that the music could go well along with it. But he didn't, so this album failed. His comment on an interview he said that he hates the Hoffman brothers more than anything in this world. They made Deicide great, he's an idiot.

Rating: 6½ (out of 10) ratings explained

Reviewed by Death8699
05/21/2012 19:05