This is the second album from US death metallers Killing Addiction.
Here comes the album I’ve been interested in hearing after 2014’s When Death Becomes Art and 2016’s Shores of Oblivion. It hasn’t disappointed.
Birthed from the ashes of personal tragedy, Mind of a New God contains 36 minutes of well-written classic death metal. The band’s style is at once familiar and unusual. What do I mean by this? Well, even though the band are clearly of the old-school death metal genre in every respect, their sound is a lesser-seen version of this in some ways. The simplest comparison that comes to mind is that of a mix of Carcass and Morbid Angel, which is definitely one of the more uncommon formulations that’s out there.
There’s something very satisfying about listening to Mind of a New God. It has the brute simplicity of solid, timeless death metal, the otherworldly alien feeling of the Morbid Angel influences, the sophisticated murderous intent of some of the Carcass-esque moments, and a firm injection of the band’s own personalised deathly aggression that then brings everything together.
Killing Addiction seem to have a knack for writing engaging, sometimes striking riffs. Frequently displaying this flair at exactly the right moment, there’s an old-school dynamic component to Killing Addiction’s music that’s undeniably effective. The band also make very good use of leads and solos, which add great value and splashes of colour to the chunky rhythm guitars.
Mind of a New God is a very enjoyable platter of meaty death metal goodness. Killing Addiction are a great example of why the core appeal of classic death metal will never die, especially when it’s delivered by people that know exactly what they’re doing with the genre.
Very highly recommended.
Wonderbox Metal 