Rating: 3.5

Country: Finland

Genre: Supposedly Death Metal

Record Label: Xtreem Music

Release Date: 2007

Track list:
1. Not Dead Enough
2. Let Chaos Prevail
3. Dark Turns Black
4. Cult of Sickness
5. God Said Suffer
6. To See the Last One Die
7. Self-Caged
8. End of Evolution
9. The Uncrowned
10. Baptized In Enmity

Total playing time 40:25

Band Website: Demigod

Demigod - Let Chaos Prevail

Tuomas Ala-Nissilä - Vocals
Jussi Kiiski - Guitars
Tuomas Karppinen - Guitars
Sami Vesanto - Bass
Tuomo Latvala - Drums

I am going to try my best to not compare Demigod's newest output with their early material, most specifically their landmark album Slumber of Sullen Eyes, lest I lose my temper and this review loses all semblance of verbal coherence. Exactly 10 years since that album Demigod released Shadow Mechanics, and like most of the attempted comeback albums from the death metal bands of the early ‘90s, it was an emasculated album no doubt with some clean singing and weak riffs, but it had its share of heavy rumbling death metal parts and was vaguely refreshing I daresay. From the perspective of a hardened death metal fan, however, it was but a halfway decent album – as long as you didn't remind yourself that it had been released by the same band that had put out Slumber of Sullen Eyes.

I wouldn't say my expectations were minimal for Let Chaos Prevail – after what they did on Shadow Mechanics, I was certainly interested to see how they would progress from there. I had even half-expected them to put out a surprisingly ballsy album having an interesting aura to it. But no! After harbouring even such humble expectations, I felt like a coach who had put his trust in a faded legend of a cricket batsmen and expected him to deliver in this crucial match, but not only did he not end up scoring any runs, he wasted precious balls and also got his other team member run out. Almost the entire album is composed of bland and rather pointless technicality which sounds somewhat like the watered down version of Decapitated's shamelessly indulgent and uninteresting sections executed in a most mechanical manner. To be fair, there are indeed several intriguing moments on Let Chaos Prevail that are quite catchy and at times vaguely reminiscent of Adramelech albeit much happier sounding (ugh!), and some bits have a relatively fresh tinge of Amorphis' latter works, but when unfailingly punctuated as they are by obnoxious metalcore-ish chugga chugga riffs and with accompanying pacifist vocals, they are all but ruined and it makes you want to bury your head in shame and of course, to block those odious sound waves. Where Shadow Mechanics had moments of genuine inventiveness, this one has moments of pure ass. Where it impressed you with at least its passionate and emotive lead-playing, this one hardly has any leads and they are not even half as good or convincing; it is like faking love to an old ex just to get laid. Although bearing resemblance to the Adramelech frontman, the vocalist's growls on this album sound appallingly thin and weak, as though he has lost his voice/balls or he doesn't wish to offend the new audience. The production too is tailored to have a pusillanimous nature, being silky smooth and spanking clean, nothing that would trouble their potential fans. Overall, the music on Let Chaos Prevail is so bloody mellow, I have my doubts on whether it qualifies as extreme metal, much less death fucking metal as we know it.

I wouldn't say that Demigod have become a pale shadow of their former selves. No, that would be incorrect. The truth is, with Let Chaos Prevail, Demigod have established themselves as an altogether different entity. If Shadow Mechanics was where Demigod finally came out of the closet, Let Chaos Prevail is where they have gone ahead and got themselves a sex change operation. Here I am afraid Demigod have gone too far and death metal listeners can no longer play understanding open-minded parents. It has stopped hurting long time back; now it is just plain disgusting.

August 10th, 2008