Review by Jeger on July 29, 2024.

It had to happen… Some group of bastards just had to take something as savage as death metal and compound it into something quadruple the fucking brutality. That group of Neanderthals is Greater Upper Marlboro, Maryland, USA’s Dying Fetus - a project founded with what felt like the intention of taking what Suffocation started in 1988 and not only refining it but also trimming some of the technical fat whilst interjecting something called a breakdown into the chaos.

Dying Fetus is John Gallagher and John Gallagher is Dying Fetus - the greatest dual-threat death metal frontman to have ever done it alongside the mighty Erik Rutan (Hate Eternal). And with such brutal vision for the genre; a glaring into the realm of ultra-violence where unbridled rage, executions and old-fashioned vengeance reign supreme. Intelligently designed and dynamic brutal/technical death metal, yet primitive in essence - a tapping into of the Medulla Oblongata like never before, not even in Florida, not even in New York… The soundtrack to your Falling Down (film 1993) as you prowl through the crowd, 9mm in your grip and in a state of controlled adrenaline-fueled calculation as you pick ‘em off one by fucking one. The creepy chainsaw shit? Save it for the Rednecks down south, because this is murder with efficiency like carbon fiber barrels as opposed to bloody axe blades. And into the sphere of collective psychological/societal and political mayhem will Dying Fetus records also take you. Unimaginably violent but also relevant to the times has their music been over the years, and in 1997, following the release of a stage-setting debut in 1996’s “Purification Through Violence”, Dying Fetus unshackled something of beast in their magnum opus, “Killing on Adrenaline”…

When it came to engineering the very finest death metal recordings, no one did it better than one Scott Burns at Morrisound. His dawning era Florida death metal records with the likes of Death, Obituary and Deicide along with his production of Suffocation’s (NY) legendary “Effigies of the Forgotten” have gone down as untouchable and for good enough reason: the warmth of classicism and an unparalleled ear for texture did his albums and he possess. That’s not at all what’s going on with “Killing on Adrenaline”. With “KOA”, expect crisp and cutting-edge, deep focus on bass and all phases at surface level where every grisly sonic manifestation can be taken in firsthand like a hit of meth before pulling the trigger. Breakdown-laden bruisers from beginning to end and no fucking mercy to be found within the clutches of the punishing titular track. It had never been this heavy before… Even shit like Incantation and the aforementioned Suffocation just sounded like Sesame Street compared to what Dying Fetus were bringing to the table, and that was mainly due to said contemporary-for-the-era production techniques that concentrated the killing fever and brought to life unfathomable acts of aggression as so sharply lyricized by John and his vivid serial killer’s imagination.

The very essence of death metal incarnate; that primal urge to kill and the adrenaline rush provided by the hypothalamus as you take your revenge… And it’s to filthy bruisers like “Kill Your Mother / Rape Your Dog”… Poetry… Still death metal, guys, and what a classic romp through the old grind as I’m reminded of early Carcass and “Repulsive Conception” era Broken Hope before a groove-dominated steamrolling ensues - “Absolute Defiance” - a downshift in gears and a dismal, almost death-doom opening couple of minutes. And “just fucking die…”. Crushing breakdowns and uber-technical riffing patterns to soundtrack the slaughter. Hardcore grooves to get the pit stirred up during “Judgement Day” and a little foreshadowing perhaps to the rise of a shitty sub-genre of extreme metal known as deathcore. Hey man, it’s not their fault that All Shall Perish and Despised Icon turned their finely-crafted DM into an abomination. Nonetheless, bang your fucking heads to this one and to the astonishing closing track, “Intentional Manslaughter”, as its many golden moments unfold: complex time-changes, laser-sharp, air-tight progressions and masterfully injected into the carnage are more of those signature breakdowns.

John has boldly taken Dying Fetus into what’s been a rather tumultuous career and on through adversity whilst always maintaining the band’s integrity as one of the very best yet oft unsung champions of death metal. Their latest LP, “Make Them Beg for Death”, is their finest and in my opinion their most pure death metal album release since, well, the previous one, 2017’s “Wrong One to Fuck With” that also saw the band in a state of appreciating the more traditional elements of brutal/technical death metal and relying a bit less on core leanings, but still discernibly DF and still brutal as fuck. Legends? Perhaps if given the credit they deserve, but as this machine continues to power forward through the murderous horizon and as nearly every one of their contemporaries begin to release shit death metal albums like “Chaos Horrific” (Cannibal Corpse) and “Dying of Everything” (Obituary), legend status will surely follow and much sooner rather than later. An East Coast-spanning style that’s stood the test of time and aging like a vintage or that head in your refrigerator… Here’s to the most brute… Here’s to Dying Fetus! 

Captivation: 10/10
Concept: 10/10
Cover Art: 8/10
Production: 9/10
Revisitability 10/10

Final Score: 9.5/10