It's a tad hard not to be the least bit humbled when writing about a band like DEICIDE, whose name has been immortalized on the US Death Metal scene for virtually two decades, with powerhouses Glen Benton and Steve Asheim being the driving force behind the band's music since DEICIDE's inception, and also being the only the two original members in the current lineup. Their new album, "In The Minds Of Evil" is more or less a typical DEICIDE album; I cannot readily recall a single weak album that the band has released, but by now I have been hoping for something better.

The record opened with the exact kind of opener I could have imagined; "In the Minds of Evil", a 500 megaton-powered steamroller reminds us of Steve's relentless double-kick drum assault and Glen's unforgettable hellish growls that cut through with surprising clarity and added percussiveness. "Beyond Salvation" sees a nod towards their 2011 work in stylistic similarity, and is a perfect example of the bombastic, bi-polar brutality that DEICIDE is capable of, rapidly alternating between subtle but intricate changes in rhythm. "Between the Flesh and the Void" stood out for me in particular, mostly because of the presence of Glen's bass, which sounds like a veritable bulldozer amidst the mix, as it sounds (and looks) live. It holds the additional honor of being dubbed (by me!) the heaviest song on the record; such a judgement is historically very hard to make where DEICIDE is concerned, where each and every track anywhere in their discography is unrelenting in its fury.

A similar distinction can be made for "Even the Gods can Bleed". Most inexperienced listeners don't hear the sheer.. Wait for it: emotion behind DEICIDE's music. It is not simply a wall of sound thrashed around by a bass-wielding, cross-branded giant of a man (who is, let's face it, the reason behind DEICIDE's creative force), but simply an expression of a man's hate. At least, that's exactly what I hear when I listen to DEICIDE; pure rage. "Fallen to Silence" is far from silence, and is a perfect example of the hypnotic throbbing that death metal is capable of when played in a time signature of 6/4 at a high tempo. "End the Wrath of God" ends this spectacular album, and feels somewhat different to every song I've heard on this piece so far. It begins with a wailing cacophony of guitar leads; as a whole, the song just feels different. More energy, more hard-hitting poetry, more Satanism, more evil.

Coming from a person who was more so a fan of their music from the late '90s-'06, I can safely say that this album is one of the best DEICIDE has ever released.