Now twelve albums into their career, Floridian death metallers Malevolent Creation still haven’t hit that “big time” death metal that their peers have kept and maintained. Some of it may have stemmed from some bad luck with labels, some of it may have stemmed from the band members being involved with a number of controversies throughout the years, but none the less, the band has carried on with aggression fully in check. Dead Man’s Path is the band’s first album with Century Media, having been on the Nuclear Blast roster for a while before that.
The band has had some solid albums over the years (Retribution, Eternal, The Ten Commandments), yet none of the albums from the band’s stint with Nuclear Blast really seemed to match up with those. Dead Man’s Path continues in the same manner. Malevolent Creation have had a particular ‘sound’ to them, and this merely continues it. The thrashy, often-speedy and blastbeat-riddled approach to traditional death metal does have its charms though. Some of the leads, such as on “Imperium (Kill Force Rising)” are quite effective, and founding vocalist Brett Hoffman can still belt out some rather intense screams after all these years. War-like marches like “Fragmental Sanity” and “12th Prophecy” do provide a wallop of intensity and are sure to become fan favorites in due time.
Whether or not you are burnt out on Malevolent Creation’s path will ultimately decide your thoughts on this one. It’s intense (as with all their other albums), and perhaps it’s too much to ask for a bit of variety at this point in the game with them but it just doesn’t seem to have the same lasting power as some of the other Floridian bands latest outputs (Obituary or Deicide for example). It will please the die-hards, but that’s about it.