CLEMENCY - Divine Legions At War

CLEMENCY

Divine Legions At War

Extreme Records

2004

The second release from Brazilian death metal outfit Clemency is...decent. The music strives hard for that fast and brutal style that is reminiscent of such classic bands of the genre such as Dark Angel and Obituary. Strives very earnestly, in fact. It's got that lightning fast blast beat drumming going on, some heavy rhythms and speedy riffs, along with the guttural vocals firmly bringing up the heavy and brutal qualities I oh, so enjoy from death metal. The thing that seems to be keeping Divine Legions At War from being a truly great death metal release is that the music itself seems to be a bit sloppy. I know, I know, a lot of you not familiar with death metal might balk at that, claiming that all of it sounds like a sloppy mess. Well, I'm not talking to you mallcore posers right now, so let's let the adults talk amongst themselves, okay?

See, the afore mentioned drumming does suffer a bit from not being completely tight and on target from time to time, making things kind of disjointed at times. Also, the guitars and drums themselves seem to be a bit murkier in production, making the vocals seem a bit overladed on top of everything. Mind you, it's not a bad release by any means. It's just that Divine Legions At War could use some tightening up in places, and a little better production to really blow me away. Otherwise, Clemency seems to be a band that can really be a force in the death metal genre. Worth checking out.