(Agonia Records)
Total Time: 38:10
I have to deal with BEHEADED since the 2005’s album “Ominous Bloodline”. Since then, they have released three other albums, including this year’s “Only Death Can Save You”. What you can easily understand from the first listening is that their sound and style have changed a lot. They are still a very good Death Metal band, but not Brutal Death Metal as they were in the past. They are modern with modern sound and influences from the whole spectrum of this genre. A very big change is observed in vocals that are fierce as they must be in such a band, but they have nothing to do with the “guttural” vocals of the past. At this point we have to clarify that there are still many Brutal Death Metal elements that have been incorporated. The extraordinary production helps the integration of these elements. The clean production helps all the instruments to be heard and the result is an album that has a “merciless” groove. The recording and mixing took place at Mk2 Studio in Italy and mastering at the Hertz Recording Studio in Poland, which BEHEMOTH and DECAPITATED use among others.
“Only Death Can Save You” starts with “The Charlatan’s Enunciation,” a fast track full of blast beat that shows us what we have to deal with. Most of the tracks are fast as the first one, without missing the slower and rhythmic spots here and there. As mentioned earlier, the result sounds quite modern. We could say that it reminds bands with a more modern sound, like MISERYINDEX without their melodic parts. In their slower moments, they remind me of CANNIBALCORPSE. Listen to a song such as “Embrace your Messiah”, which is excellent and shows exactly that influence.
Generally we are talking about a very good job with songs that you will remember pleasantly, even after the first listening. The biggest bet they have to win is to convince their older fans to listen to them, as they don’t seem to like this shift in their sound. I think that BEHEADED are trying to have a better result, which is a difficult task when you have released such records in the past. However, the Maltese metaheads can be proud of BEHEADED and we can enjoy them in this new step.
Rating: 7/10
Giannis Karakasis
