Six years later the Floridian quartet returns with their thirteenth studio album ‘Banished By Sin’ which is the perfect example that ensures veterans’ quality and expertise in combining bludgeoning effectiveness. The album opens with the track ‘From Unknown Heights You Shall Fall’ which is a testament to the classic style of Deicide: demonic growls, brutal riffs and organic drumming are all packed in abundance.

The riffs on the entire album are outstanding and the drums are played perfectly with ripping guitar solos and chugging riffs resulting in frenzied tempos. The guitar work is top-notch and makes the songs highly coherent and organic from the songwriting aspect. The production on this album is worthy of remark and it’s by far the best album I’ve heard by Deicide since the 2006 album ‘Stench of Redemption’.

The drums are aggressive and comprise a perfect balance between blast beats and double bass on ‘Doomed to Die’ and ‘Severe the Tongue’ showcase Deicide’s manifestation of playing at a faster and brutal tempo. The savage work reminiscences the intensity of ‘Once Upon the Cross’  without losing the malevolence throughout.

There is no question about how the drums are so dynamic and brutal, keeping the ferocious pace with Glenn Benton’s inhuman growls running his classic gamut. The double bass executed by Steve Asheim is enough to create an evil experience with rapid blast beats backed by Kevin Quirion‘s pummeling riffs and Taylor Nordberg adding to the chaos. The venomous riffs of the old Deicide sound render some memorable moments.

The straightforward bludgeoning is the true strength of this album. There is also a sinister aspect in the riffing prowess that conveys a lesson in brutality in the face of modern death metal bands. The thirteenth album offers a blast from the past to Deicide fans. There are also some hints of black metal in songs like ‘Faithless’ which has some dissonant guitar segments at the beginning of the track, where its powerful riffage and thundering blast beats showcase masterful technique and unhinged blood-lust cruelty.

‘Banished By Sin’ is full of the old-school death metal spirit. It is obvious that Glenn and the rest of the members portray their glorious years with songs like ‘Bury the Cross…with Your Christ’ offering plenty of head-banging riffs. The impact of the growls and the pacing of the drums display malevolent satanic themes.

The immense power of the chugging riffs has that old school method. The album includes plenty of highlights such as ‘Woke from God’ and ‘Ritual Defied’ which contain sleek guitar solos that are perfectly executed. Despite the succinctly short tracks which have always worked best for the band, the riffing is diverse at delivering complex riffs. The rhythm section is well-executed and injects an ear-piercing riffs.

Though I would say the first half of the album is stronger where songs are more consistent and brutal, this doesn’t mean that the rest of the songs are less extreme or engaging: on the contrary, tracks like ‘Failures of Your Dying Lord’ and the title track ‘Banished By Sin’ exceeded my expectations. Everything from the chugging riffs, furious drums, vicious backing vocals to Glen Benton’s infernal growls is evil and brutal.

The riffs and the bludgeoning drums are capable of propelling at high speed: given the intensity and the robust formula the songwriting has improved from the last album. While this evil blasphemous piece of music continues to expel the angels from your life, the blast beats explode frantically on ‘A Trinity of None’.

The growls on this track sound wicked and enraged. Deicide delivers plenty of brutal death metal riffs. The bass guitar is overwhelmingly heavy and the up-tempos burst with energy and evil madness as the frenzy levels of blast beats trigger some dual shrieks without abandoning the overall brutality.

The final two tracks ‘I am I…a Curse of Death’ and ‘Light Defeated’ gear into higher tempos, but the performance never fails to impress with propelling grooves, thrashing drums, technical guitar solos and organic drumming having an immense power to stomp and crush everything in its path as Glen Benton and Co. invoke their demons by unleashing a hellish demonstration of brutality.

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