Deus Otiosus is a Danish death metal band that formed in 2005. Murderer is their first full-length release. This is just over forty minutes of pure unflinching old school death metal. Deus Otiosus features members of many other projects such as Hideous Invasion, Victimizer, and Church Bizarre among others. With this release the band rightfully earn themselves a spot among the altar of the metal gods.This is an all out old school slugfest so those who have to have their music served up with a polished sound need not apply. The album opens with Rasmussen's bellowing growl which you'll be hearing plenty of for the next forty minutes.
The guitarwork here is all about the killer riffs. The band never misses a beat and pumps out some of the most consistent riffs in the genre these days. They drive their brand of thrash influenced death metal straight through your skull and when all is said and done it feasts on the contents within. From start to finish Deus Otiosus never lets up and by the end of the album you are reduced to a fine powder. That being said if you are looking for a great amount of diversity you need to go somewhere else. This album is clearly made for fans of the genre and when listening it is obvious that the band members are dedicated fans of the genre as well.
The vocalist sticks to one style the majority of the album and it sounds pretty good but some may find it a bit repetitive. When the band slows things down a little things get very interesting. An eerie atmosphere is created on songs like "Ash World" which features a whole track full of very infectious guitarwork. We're not just talking "huh, that's kind of catchy" memorable, we're talking about stuff you'll find yourself humming days after listening.
The drumming on Murderer is decent. Bentsen delivers a barbaric performance behind the kit but some more variety wouldn't have hurt. Calling Bentsen a boring drummer would be ridiculous but the performance on this album doesn't have the mindblowing quality that the rest of the elements featured do. That being said this doesn't really hurt the overall sound of the album much. The drums drive the record along at a nice pace and get the job done just fine.
Overall Deus Otiosus is just one of those bands that has captured the old school death metal sound and did a damn good job doing so. There is very little melody to be had here, this is just evil riff packed death metal that deserves a hell of a lot more attention than they are receiving at the moment. Murderer is just as raw as the cover art that represents it. Obviously this is recommended to fans of the genre.
Damn this is good!
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