With the staggeringly expansive genre tags that metal has shifted into over the years, sometimes it’s nice to drop the pretensions and enjoy the moment. The best way for this scribe to indulge into this is through straight-up death/thrash. The kind that’s heavy on the riffing with just enough melody to make one take notice. We’ve already had Shredhead’s excellent release earlier this year, but make way for the next fun headbanger – Germany’s Dying Humanity.
Taking the death/thrash format and injecting it with a number of NWOBHM melodies and a few clean vocals here and there sums up Deadened, the group’s first effort in four years, to a tee. Again, not to diminish what the band has done, but if you see that description and dig it, there won’t be any surprises. But it’s really all about the presentation and execution here. Take a song like “Beyond Redemption,” which rallies together thrashy riffs with some excellent NWOBHM leads that occasionally take over the song and harken it back to a real ‘80s feel without losing the power of the more deathly qualities. There’s some straight-forward thrashers like “Feed Him to the Lions” that are sure to bust out a circle pit by the time they finish, but on the other hand, a song like “Bloodshot Eyes” alters the format with a quiet acoustic outro. The instrumental “Oblivion” opens softly for almost three minutes before moving towards energized melodies and blasts.
Deadened is straight-forward and digestible, yet has a strong variety to the proceedings. A genuinely fun and enjoyable album that is sure to get bodies moving as well, Dying Humanity have a winner on their hands here. If you are hard up for some new death/thrash, this is it.