For a Death Metal band to really make me pay attention they have to be original. With all the generic, cloned crap that is clogging the Death Metal pipes, it's easy to get lost in a sea of confusing lettering and Cookie Monster vocals, which is why I don't take the genre too seriously. It's fun, and that's about it for me. For example, I think DETHKLOK is one of the best Death Metal bands to come out in recent years, and they're little more than the animated, WEIRD AL of Death Metal. So I'm really glad CORPSE GARDEN came my way with their latest album "Entheogen". The album, released in May of this year (2015) is CORPSE GARDEN's second full-length release after 2012's "Burnt By The Light". Now, there are no socks being knocked off my feet as I listen to "Entheogen", but they are pretty close.

CORPSE GARDEN has had a significant lineup change since their first album "Burnt by the Light". Three members were replaced, the band sounds better, more technical and tight. Each track blends into the next seamlessly, but not to the point where you get the "is this still the same track?" sensation that can come from albums with lengthy tracks. Sometimes that happens when bands try to stretch their track length, it gets numbingly tedious to sit through the same rolling riff for six minutes and is a good indicator that the band is trying way too hard to be unique. Not the case with CORPSE GARDEN, the incorporation of rapid tempo changes is present in many tracks like "The Quantum Rapture" and "The First Incarnation". There is also a lot of background synth effects like creepy whispering, screaming or general ambient noise giving the album an extra push in the war to stand out in the death scene. "Entheogen" is over an hour long with 13 tracks, so experimenting within each song and changing up the riff is an absolute necessity. CORPSE GARDEN's lyrics are unique as well, but you wouldn't notice just by listening to them come from the all too familiar growl of their vocals. When read, the lyrics sound more like something out of the mind of a yoga instructor who did waaaay too many hallucinogens, and smells like a Rainbow Gathering. Like the lyrics for the track "Red Pulvis Solaris":

" Cleansing through pain
Reborn in grace
Mystic forces of duality

The crowning process
Corporeal cravings undone
I am all, I am One."

The entire album contains lyrics like these. It's all about spiritual transformation, hence the name "Entheogen", which means "generating the divine withing" is a drug used in certain shamanistic and religious ceremonies. In other words, it will fuck you up somethin' fierce and the album certainly fits that definition. "Entheogen" sounds like a typical Death Metal album but the beauty is in the subtle details that CORPSE GARDEN has added. This is a great debut for the new members and a fine job for the originals, a recommendation for any Death Metal fan.