After releasing their genre-defining debut album, Death Metal legends DEICIDE released a couple of great albums in the vein of the debut, but on this album they seem to have stagnated completely. What happened?

Glen Benton’s vocals used to be varied, using both growling and shrieking vocals. On “Insineratehymn”, Benton has reduced the use of shrieks, forsaking one of the trademarks that once made them stand out. The song-structures are executed in the good old repetitive DEICIDE manner, but since most of the riffs are boring and uninventive, the album never gets interesting. As opposed to previous albums, the pace has been lowered slightly on “Insineratehymn”, but without making any notable difference. In general, the song-writing seems uninspired. While its predecessor, “Serpents Of The Light”, wasn’t a masterpiece, it had a groove that made it enjoyable. “Insineratehymn” completely lacks that groove and is pale and lifeless in comparison.

DEICIDE is a band with enormous potential, so it’s frustrating to see them deliver a mediocre album like “Insineratehymn”. I can’t recommend this album to anyone but die hard DEICIDE fans. Go listen to their first albums instead. (Online June 24, 2004)