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DITHEIST "Cosmic Liar"
DITHEIST "Cosmic Liar"
By Dr. Abner Mality
There's a lot to be said for just sticking to the basics and delivering the goods. That's the credo of Chicago's DITHEIST and "Cosmic Liar". The Windy City has a history of gritty, no BS death metal like CIANIDE, CARDIAC ARREST, MASTER and more...well, here's another name to add to that list.
This sounds like it could have come right out of Morrisound Studios around 1991...the DEICIDE influence is very strong, with short, blazing fast American death metal delivered with no frills. Traces of old MORBID ANGEL and MALEVOLENT CREATION can also be detected. In fact, the track "Mouth of Hell" has a great "Chapel of Ghouls" vibe to it. The production is dry and crisp, kind of like a good white wine, and guitar solos are brief and basic. The real strength of the album can be found in the middle three tracks..."Nyarlathotep" has a mysterious Middle Eastern feel, "Apoplectic Delirium" is a great track packing a ton of killer riffs into less than four minutes, and "Covenant Ov Torture" is early American death metal in a nutshell.
The album is a lesson in brevity and efficiency, again following DEICIDE's lead in compact albums filled with brief, power-packed songs. Original? No, absolutely not, but it's hard to argue with a beating delivered as straightforwardly as this.
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