Product Description

No Description Available
No Track Information Available
Media Type: CD
Artist: VITAL REMAINS
Title: ICONS OF EVIL
Street Release Date: 04/24/2007
Domestic
Genre: HEAVY METAL

Track Listing

1. Where Is Your God Now (Intro)
2. Icons Of Evil
3. Scorned
4. Born To Rape The World
5. Reborn...The Upheaval Of Nihility
6. Hammer Down The Nails
7. Shrapnel Embedded Flesh
8. 'Till Death
9. In Infamy
10. Disciples Of Hell

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #45331 in Music
• Brand: VITAL REMAINS
• Released on: 2007-04-24
• Number of discs: 1

Customer Reviews

Heard it all before...
Yep, Glen Benton and his God-hating cronies return once again to bash our brains with more monotomous blast beats and horrible vocals.
I'm not saying there's anything particulary wrong with this album, as they are all very talented musicians, however its nothing new.
Every song sounds the same, and features Benton grunting on about how much he hates religion and how he worships the devil. OK! We get it! You dislike Christians! Change the story! Funny thing is, he acknowledges Satan's existence but not God's. You can't have one and not the other Glen!
Anyways, if all you want to hear is blast beats from start to finish, the same guitar riff over and over and some idiot screaming away like a toddler on a tantrum, then waste you money on this.

If you want some decent death metal/grindcore, listen to PIG DESTROYER, CANNIBAL CORPSE, ANNOTATIONS OF AN AUTOPSY, JOB FOR A COWBOY, DESPISED ICON, ALL SHALL PERISH.

Vital Remains destroys the death metal scene
It's pretty funny skimming through the reviews, and seeing people complain about how this is nothing new, and then they go on and give trendy showboating bands 5 stars. Vital Remains have nothing to prove, they are the most technical and heavy death metal band in the entire scene without boiling down into stupid grind or slam-riffs.

Dave Suzuki is by far the most talented individual in music today. Not only does he lay down the technical-as-hell riffs and solos, but he does thte bass and even the drums. Glen Benton growls his way through some of the finest material he has ever done. He has never sounded more vicious or evil. Finally, Tony Lazaro writes some godly music, and puts down the rythm section quite well.

Favorite songs are Hammer Down the Nails, Icons of Evil, and Till Death, but each song is amazing.

Vital Remains isnt for everyone, but if you like old-school death metal like Suffocation, Deicide, and Morbid Angel and even tech-death like Immolation, then you should definately pick this one up.

Nothing new, but still mighty enjoyable
An album like Vital Remains' "Icons of Evil" is, for all intents and purposes, every extreme music fan's wet dream. It is an epic, skull-shattering album that weighs a ton and overflows with godly, highly technical music, including great riffs, fiery leads, blasting drums, crushing rhythms, and even lengthy, restrained, melodic guitar solos. Of course, with all of these things in place it makes "Icons of Evil" very, very similar to the band's last offering, 2003's "Dechristianize." And when Glenn Benton (of Deicide fame) adds his roaring, unintelligible, inhuman vocals to the mix, the two albums become almost identical. So, some fans are sure to be a bit disappointed that "IoE" does not expand Vital Remains' sound whatsoever and that it does not sound nearly as novel or unique as that four year old release.

But even if VR could have done a lot more with their fifth full length, it still makes for a very satisfying listen, so it's hard to complain about it too much. And even though it may not be at all innovative, "Icons of Evil" is, in a lot of ways, a more realized effort than "Dechristianize." The songs are faster and heavier this time around, and boast a lot more guitar solos (numerous melodic, classically-influenced solos crop up in every track.) Plus, the band's musicianship is even tighter and more mindblowing now than it was then (and that's really saying something!). As a result, Vital Remains now sound more, well, Vital Remains-y than they ever have before.

After beginning with an a capella, skin-crawling shriek from Glenn, the title track bursts the album's floodgates open with blinding guitar shredding, blast beats that make jackhammers sound slow by comparison, an ominous, doomy breakdown around the midpoint, and a lengthy solo that could peal the paint off a wall. And then -- from the mind-boggling drumming of "Scorned," to the barnburning, Slayer-on-steroids riffing of "Reborn...The Upheaval of Nihility," and on to an impressive (albeit barely recognizable) Yngwie Malmsteen cover ("Disciples of Hell") -- the onslaught never relents. This is a sixty-seven minute-long deluge of extremely brutal death metal that tears your head clean off your shoulders while ripping the rest of your body apart limb by limb. These songs are as heavy and fast as metal gets this side of the grindcore genre. "Reborn...The Upheaval of Nihility," with its breakneck intro, seemingly octolimbed drumming, and gorgeous (though brief) flamenco guitar solo, and "`Till Death," which weaves some especially melodic and wailing solos in between its pummeling, Nile-esque rhythm, are the two biggest highlights on hand here.

It's almost redundant to say because of the obviousness of it, but "Icons of Evil" is definitely not for everybody. This is a monstrous feast of death metal -- it's so big, in fact, that it will be overwhelming to a lot of listeners. But if you're looking for something that will be more than satiating when you get a hankering for the heavy stuff, there's no album that will get the job done better than this.