Vital Remains: Dechristianize (2003)

Happy Easter everyone!  Today we get to talk about a Satanic death metal band!  Because it's Easter of course!

Vital Remains is a band that never really clicked with me.  I have always heard great things about the band and death metal fans in particular seem to really love them.  I had checked them out a couple of times, and though I did not mind them, I did not see them as anything really special.  They seemed to be a band whose primary draw was their ability to shock, just look at the Icons of Evil album cover (it is Easter today, it is appropriate again, so look to the right).  What I knew of Vital Remains was that they had terrific guitarists in Dave Suzuki and Tony Lazaro and they frequently collaborated with Deicide's Glen Benton on vocals.  But these elements resulted in music that was often overwrought, long and often difficult to get into, particularly on what is now known as the band's final album.  So I just did not really get them...

Until I finally picked up Dechristianize.  This was always the album that people pointed to when discussing Vital Remains.  It took me some time to find it though, and honestly I was not really trying all that hard after not being totally blown away by the couple releases I did check out.  But just recently I did finally pick it up and I have been able to see what I was missing all that time. 

It is clear to me now that Icons of Evil was an album that was trying desperately to be a continuation of this one, and it is the next album chronologically so that makes sense.  All of the ideas on that release can be found here, but they are much better executed.  The songs are lengthy with progressive song structures and with a ton of riffs per song.  Vital Remains is also blessed (probably not the BEST term due to the band's stance on religion) by the inhuman drumming ability of Suzuki.  Then there are the deep roaring vocals of Benton, and this is easily one of his best performances.

With all of the above elements present, it is still likely that this would have been merely an above-average death metal release.  Where this album really excels is in the amazing neoclassical guitar solos.  The solos and leads are played by Suzuki.  No, that is not a mistake.  Suzuki plays bass, drums, and lead guitar on most of the Vital Remains releases, yet is no longer in the band.  The band later covers Yngwie Malmsteen and it is very clear from the sound of the solos that Malmsteen is a major influence on Suzuki.  He is truly amazing throughout this release.

I finally understand the appeal of Vital Remains.  That being said, I am not sure how much of their previous material I will still be checking out.  I will give them a chance, but it is hard to imagine them being better than this one.