THEODICY is a German death metal band that was formed back in 1997. After a long spout of difficulties and trying to find competent musicians the band finally released their debut album "Cost of War" in 2012. "I am War" is their 2017 follow up to that album. The album has a short intro that is a nice slow guitar riff over the sounds of war. Bombs blasts in the background with crows cawing over the dead. It is a nice intro to a powerful album.

"Kratos" follows up the intro and comes out fast and furious. The guitars and drums are heavy but also very melodic. The vocals switch up between deep guttural and raspy growly vocals. The mix is a nice way to break up the vocals and give them a more dynamic feel. Overall a nice heavy song to begin the album.

"Firms of Death" begins with bomb sounds that turn into a heavy guitar riff. The drums are on point in this song as they never let up and are interwoven with more bomb dropping sounds in the background. The vocals again are the back and forth from previous songs. This song fades into a nice guitar solo at the mid-point which is helped along with the brutal drums.

"First Person Shooter" starts with a good bass and guitar riff that will have you headbanging from the beginning. The music gives way to the heavy guttural vocals that give this song weight. The music envelopes the vocals and drips emotion from the headphones. The music alone makes this my favorite song on the album. It is that song you will replay over and over until everyone around you is tired of it.

"Massacre" comes on with an addictive drum beat that has your feet moving along. It is quickly met with some heavy riffs that bring the song together awaiting the vocals. The vocals don't disappoint, as they bring a weight to the song. This is a fast-paced classic death metal song.

By the time I get to "Executed by Fire," THEODICY has me as a fan. This song is more balls to the wall destruction than previous songs, but it still has melody and rhythm. Like many of the songs on this album you can't help but bang your head and enjoy them. This track also keeps with the theme of the album by incorporating the bomb sounds in with the music like other tracks. Overall a very solid heavy song.

The band ends the album with "The Green Lawn", and odd name on an album that has had many war and death metal-centric names. However, this track wraps up the album very nicely. It's not as heavy as other songs on the album, but it is still heavy enough. The dueling vocals return and complement the melodic riffs nicely.

I enjoyed "I am War" and plan on making THEODICY part of my listening library. The album reminded me a lot of SIX FEET UNDER throughout. The addition of raspy vocals along with the guttural ones was a nice change and broke the songs up nicely. The band incorporated sounds of war into the songs which helped maintain the theme of the album. I would definitely recommend this album to any death metal fans out there.