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Rebirth of Blasphemy - 90%

OogaBooga, December 23rd, 2009

‭I happened to pick up this cd off of Amazon's marketplace for $3.00. I had heard of Krabathor only through their association with Master, whom I dug alot. I bought this basically to round out an order, with no knowledge of what they sounded like, and I'll be damned if it wasn't the best cd of the lot. I was impressed because of how professionally done this album is, the band is uber-tight, and the production is clear and warm...really very natural sounding and not compressed. The production done on this recording is something I can't emphasize enough, it brings out the best aspect of this album: the guitar riffs and the tone. Riffs have some thrashiness in them, which is good, and a heap of melody in the solos, which is great. The wicked guitar tone only helps to reinforce the two former qualities.

‭The bass is there in the mix, but it just kind of chugs along with the guitar. Drums are tight as hell-really well done double bass patterns, and Skull is all over the cymbals and toms, and keeps the variety up; he blasts for a bit but can lay back and keep a good groove for the songs to ride along with. Vocals are another great point of Lies, Christopher adds to his impressive guitar playing with some roaring, grizzly-bear death vocals. They don't sound layered, just powerful and adds another destructive piece to this album.

‭The only sticking point with me is the lyrics, which kind of strike me as being written in an "English as a second language" manner, they are bizarre at times and more than often don't seem to make sense, but it won't make the listener much difference because the performance is able to rise above this. Lyrics cover all your basic death metal song topics: death, murder, rage and good ol' satan. One of the best tracks has no lyrics, which is the instrumental "Believe." This song has amazing fretboard workouts within, the soloing is so tastefully done that I hit the repeat button on my disc player several times just to let it soak in.

‭This is a very well crafted death metal album that I would recommend to anyone that has a taste for the old stuff. Some of the best songs include: Imperator (a re-recording of an early demo track, according the liner notes), Believe..., Rebirth of Blasphemy (awesome chorus/guitars on this one), and the bonus track Pacifistic Death is a real grinder to close the album out with. It might be a little difficult to find, but my copy is the Pavement re-release, so there should be some used ones floating around, pick it up!