After eight albums of furious brutality you would think that Dying Fetus would be running out of steam, but with album number nine Make Them Beg For Death, there are no signs of stopping these murderous Marylanders any time soon.
Opening with “Enlighten Through Agony,” you are met with the familiar sound of John Gallagher’s growl and fretwork, both of which are integral to the Fetus being as successful as they are. It hardly feels like there was a six year gap between this and Wrong One To Fuck With seeing as this is the exact same crew who brought us that album. Not a second was spared in curating its powerful successor.
Latent grooves are provided on “Compulsion For Cruelty” allowing for massive sections of headbanging amongst the riffing rampage. “Feast of Ashes” features some wonderful Chuck Schuldiner style soloing akin to something from Individual Thought Patterns or Symbolic, playing into the technical intricacies that help to make Dying Fetus more than an aural cudgel; there is a sense of beauty in this barbarity.
“Undulating Carnage” feels like an album title that helps to convey the message that the band seems to relish with each successive album, if they allow you a moment to breathe there are more and more manic episodes with which to suffer through as you groove to the grimy reality that is their music. “Raised in Victory / Razed in Defeat” besides being an excellent song title is a masterclass in the constant clobbering of the listener, making for a particularly oppressive listen and on the latter half of an album such as this, it’s amazing what this band is capable of after ripping through the first seven songs.
Between the fretboard pyrotechnics, vocal violence and bludgeoning of the battery, Make Them Beg For Death makes it to the upper echelon of Dying Fetus’ discography, and is one of the most harrowing and pugnacious death metal records of 2023.
(released September 8, 2023 on Relapse Records)
Heavy Music HQ Rating:
Watch Dying Fetus – “Feast Of Ashes” Video
