New Yorkers Dehumanized have been on and off the scene since 1995. However, unfortunately their discography is looking a little empty. With only a demo in 1996 (Terminal Punishment), then a full-length album in 1998(Prophecies Foretold) and another demo in 2005 oddly named ‘Man Vs Man’. On the upside though, these yanks managed to bag supporting acts for DM titans Cannibal Corpse and Immolation. So they can’t all be that bad. Now in 2013 after a long wait, their new album ‘Controlled Elite’ is set to make our ears bleed….
Straight in and taking no prisoners with the first track ‘Bloodties’, with slightly better than the usual in vocals, showing a little bit more melody and ‘umph’ . The two different vocal styles entwine and argue with each other, sounding incredibly effective. The slowing down towards the end is pretty fun with the odd pinched harmonic but wasting no time it jumps into the next track ‘Body Colonizers’. OK, so most death metal tracks to me sound the same, yet reading the lyrics (which were in the cd sleeve) you realise it’s not just a load of pig grunting and they are actually shouting about something.
‘Set in Stone’ is a firm favourite due to the catchy drum rolling and the riffs, if a little all over the place, it works well with the rest of the music. The little high pitched guitar solo on this one, along with the military style drumming are very original and not something you’d expect on your average Joe death metal album.
A tasty little sample off ‘The Twilight Zone’ on the album titled track ‘Controlled Elite’ “Because you are here, and you are men. And while there are men, there can be no peace,” is about the best part of this track, if a little samey to the rest.
‘His Burden’ serves up something a little different with the beginning sounding like a doom track then turning into something a lot faster and almost punk. The riffs on this one are a lot deeper and the high part of the vocals are some awe inspiring high pitched –ball grabbing impressiveness.
The bass intro to ‘No Shall Remain’ is a breath of fresh air, however, the rest disappoints a little as the beginning of the track works well slower paced yet it speeds up too much for my liking.
Moving on to the last ‘Untitled’ or as we old-schoolers who used to wait for the cassette to run its course, we called it ‘the hidden track’. A whole 4:20 into it and there it is… nothing special but still if death metal is your bag, you’d be thinking it’s a hidden gem.
All in all it’s a good death metal album, definitely not the worst I’ve heard, but not the best either. Some good and some bad. yet, I still felt it was missing a few new ingredients to separate them from the same old death metal bands.. But if you love this kind of music then you’ll be loving this too.
(6/10 Charlene Rance)
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