Album Review: Dying Fetus - Make Them Beg For Death
Reviewed by Daniel Phipps
Over the last 30 years you are going to be too hard pressed to find a band who have pushed the brutal death metal agenda than Baltimore Maryland natives Dying Fetus. From releasing some huge groundbreaking records to playing the main stage at Download Festival following the #whynotdyingfetus campaign the band's ability to tap into fan bases outside of your hardened brutal death metal fan and maintain a level of success is seriously impressive. The band who have been a 3 piece since 2008 and since then have maintained the most stable line up in its history are now 9 full length records in once the band unleash Make Them Beg For Death, and with a title like it doesn't sound like these grizzled veterans are making any attempt to slow down.
What makes Dying Fetus a special band is that they don't have a flaw in their execution, the band's sound does not really deviate from one album to the other, its groove heavy and when called upon brings in some technical finesse to elevate the songs. What is great about Dying Fetus is when that finesse comes in, it is never a case of “oh they don't do that all the time” because they can, they don't do it all the time because they know those finesse bits keep you interested in the band's signature and downright brutal grooves and Make Them Beg For Death certainly continues this trend. The album is truly devastating as it flows through track after track of sheer brutality which has no real lul during its run length. The songs all have those classic hooks that drop in between slabs of blastbeat driven fury and the hooks are as catchy as ever.
The only point in which Dying Fetus shy away from the combination of groove and power is during the track “Throw Them in The Van” which is pure raw grinding death metal and is something that over the last couple of full lengths I don’t seem to remember them doing and its nice to have a track in the vein of the classic “Kill Your Mother/Rape Your Dog” which featured on the Killing on Adrenaline album back within one of the bands full lengths. As ever the duel wielding vocal attacks of John Gallagher and Sean Beasly are outstanding with them both working off each other so well in the way the albums vocals flow. As always the drums bring everything to life on a Fetus record they help carry those hooks and grooves and turn the rapid fast sections into an audio murder spree when those tempos ramp up in speed.
What Make Them Beg For Death says is that Dying Fetus know what they are doing, know they can produce technical song writing to match any tech death band out there right now, but they don’t need to. They know what they are doing, they know how to continue to create their style and continue to release albums which are nothing short of menacing.
