2017 is turning into quite the year for veteran American  death metal acts; Suffocation, Immolation, Broken Hope and Origin have all released albums and later this year we even have Morbid Angel and Incantation releases. But elbowing their way through all of them is Dying Fetus and their eighth opus, and for lack of a better term…it destroys the opposition.

Now that horrible pun is out of my system, let’s get to it. After 2000s undisputed classic, Destroy the Opposition, lone remaining member Jon Gallagher did his best with a rotating line up to keep Dying Fetus relevant with a couple of fair to decent albums in Stop at Nothing, War of Attrition and Descend into Depravity. But it wasn’t until 2012s Reign Supreme, where with a stable line up, Gallagher and co. finally came close to recreating the magic of Destroy the Opposition. Locked into a power trio for three albums now (rounded out by Sean Beasley on bass and Trey Williams on drums),  and bringing back the old logo, Dying Fetus has again delivered an album that feels and sounds like the band’s magnum opus.

You can tell there was a 5 year wait here. The albums is 10 or 11  songs (depending which version you buy) and runs for over 53 minutes. Now, superficially, I’ll admit it’s a bit long (especially for this style) and the multiple 5 minute+ songs to tend to over run, but frankly when it’s this good, I have a hard time complaining, (especially in light of Suffocation’s recent, meager 3o minutes of new music).

There is so much classic Dying Fetus material in each song, that it’s hard to pin point just a few, but from opener “Fixated on Devastation”  (which sounds like a lost Destroy the Opposition recording) to closing bonus track “Induce Terror”, the album simply destroys. There are a plethora of the band’s signature, utterly devastating slams and grooves such as the thunderous starts to “Reveling in the Abyss” and “Unmitigated Detestation”,  “Seething With Disdain”, “Ideological Subjugation”, and the monstrous title track and of course Gallagher’s trademark pit bull bark is as dominant as ever.

A few wrinkles pop up there and there such as the solo in “Fallacy”, the stammering stop start in “Unmitigated Detestation”, and  slow build of “Die with Integrity” but it’s all unmistakably Dying Fetus in sound and tone as the production as as beefy and clear as you would expect- another model of consistency from a band that’s been at it for 25 years but show no signs of slowing down.

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