Review by Daniel for Dehumanized - Prophecies Foretold (1998)

My first experience with New York brutal death metal outfit Dehumanized came through their 1996 "Terminal Punishment" demo tape (4/5) back in my mid-1990's tape trading heyday & it made a significant impact on me, receiving regular replays over the next couple of months. I was a huge fan of the New York BDM sound at the time & these five guys offered a very solid example of it without ever really pushing the leaders of the scene like my very favourite metal band ever Suffocation. Dehumanized's debut full-length wouldn't land until my interest in metal was already tailing off during the late 90's so our paths wouldn't cross until a good decade later. The experience was similarly positive though & "Prophecies Foretold" & I have exchanged blows several times since then, appearing to enjoy each other's company quite a bit. When I first heard the record in full though, there was something a little fishy about it. You see, halfway through the tracklisting I started to get a strong feeling of deja vu & there's a good reason for that because the final four tracks are essentially an untouched version of the "Terminal Punishment" demo I'd enjoyed so much as a kid. The first five songs sound vastly different to the demo though which gives "Prophecies Foretold" a bit of a split personality. Both personalities are certainly worth knowing but I hold a slight favour for the demo material.

The new material that kicks off the album sees Dehumanized taking on a sound that splits the brutal & conventional death metal styles, never quite deciding on where it wants to reside. There's just as much Disincarnate & (dare I say it) Neuropath in their sound as there is their New York counterparts with a stronger melodic component & a little more nuance & tempo restraint being shown. The demo material is pure New York BDM though with those signature palm-muted slam riffs in strong effect throughout. The vocals are more gutteral & the tempos whiplash between slow & chuggy, hardcore-inspired Dying Fetus style slams & light-speed blasting. It doesn't appear as if drummer George Torres was using triggers as the kick drums sound fairly messy due to the disparities in their sound. Surprisingly, Torres is the only member of Dehumanized that I recognize from other projects, having contributed to slam death metallers 420 & Artery Eruption as well as BDM legends Skinless over the years. Frontman Jerry Barco's vocals differ quite a bit between the two releases too, being more gutteral on the early material with the brand-new songs all sporting a brighter production job.

Regardless of the split personality, I still really dig "Prophecies Foretold". It champions everything I enjoy about death metal & arguably does it better than they managed to do on either of their subsequent albums. Don't let the terrible cover art fool you. There are easily enough chunky riffs & spasmodic blast beats to satisfy your average brutal death metal nut included here. 

For fans of Internal Bleeding, Pyrexia & Mortal Decay.