So, you're leary of Vengeance Rising after hearing last year's Destruction Comes? Well, feast your ears on this disk--and some of that trust will come roaring back. The opening opus-like "Help Me" comes throbbing into your listening space with all the gothic heaviness of an ancient rite; and then, two cuts later, comes "Human Dark Potential." Oh my gosh! What a wall of sound! These guitars sound so deadly! Yes, Roger is rising and Vengeance can still kill large rodents on musical contact. This is a massive song reminiscent of the old days, except the vocals are buried underneath and not pouted with the same intense screaming passion of old. Lyrically, Roger's doing his best penmanship yet. We get an insightful look at how evil seems to be revealing itself everywhere you look. "Everywhere I go the papers say the same/ Someone's good neighbor has flipped rabid insane...I was in Milwaukee in 1989/ How I wish I'd led Jeffrey (Dalmer) to Christ...Realize there's human dark potential/ The man worked making candy." Good lyrics. The highlight of the album is probably "Bishop of Souls," due to the great groove, shredding, screaming leads and the pouting urgent vocals found in a song like "He is God." The rhythm is somewhat repetitive, but the song's just got raw power. The shouted BGV's by the gang give it the extra push to take it over the top. "You Will Be Hated," "The Damnation of Judas..." and "Lest You Be Judged" have good energy and shredding tightness, but they're still overshadowed by these "let's sound drunk and unintelligible" Death Metal vocals. Unlike the last album, though, the music underneath is thick and loud enough to hold your attention irregardless of the vocals. Good engineering! "Out of Bounds" is a very cool instrumental with piercing and trebly guitars that wail. It almost sounds like a little Jazz improvisation over a crunchin' Deliverance-type beat. The title track is the album's throwaway cut, with a numbing, grooveless, speedy grind sound and Mortification-like Death vocals. In conclusion, I'd have to say I can really enjoy the music on this album. Roger and co. have started to gain back the ground lost by last year's disappointing Destruction Comes.
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