So raw it’s bleeding, Visions of Death from Moravia, NY’s Disfigured Dead is the antithesis of Pro-Tools death metal. As such, it comes across as an album on which guitar, bass, drums, and vocals electrify and eviscerate in complete contradiction with recordings that are polished and surgically precise.

Stylistically, you are a treated to a brand of old school thrashing death metal that is vaguely reminiscent of early Death (ala Scream Bloody Gore), albeit with a more pronounced thrash factor, and to use a very recent example, Gravehill. Though the album as a whole lacks a measure of distinction in musical method and songwriting (some of the vocal/riff patterns on the verses fall flat at times), the energy conveyed is undeniably high. It is in fact the rawness of the single-guitar approach that is a major selling point, as the riffing is loud, in your face, and occasionally distinct. It is a sound that truly burns hot and is inclusive of one hell of a lot of jagged edges and sharp protuberances, while a bare bones (and rightly so) rhythm section often races with reckless abandon underneath. Where the group has done a noteworthy job is in the arrangement variation. In addition to the expected number of speed racing thrashers, there are songs like “Welcome to the Morgue” with its slower pace and a lick that drips with dread and the stop-start cadence of “Dead Walking.”

In the end, there is not much about which to bitch with Visions of Death. It is competent thrashing death that gets the job done, leaving cuts, gashes, and bruises in the processes. Highly recommended it is not. Mildly recommended? Medium recommended?

[Visit the band's website]

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