Vital Remains is such a strange band for me. I dislike almost all of their albums with one exception: Dechristianize. After multiple attempts to get into albums like Forever Underground and Icons of Evil they keep falling flat and I find myself back to Dechristianize as my default album for them.
This is with good reason though, Dechristianize is a beast of an album. I don't think I've ever heard another band take the concept of melodic death metal as literally as they have here. Even though there is a lot of melody, this is a fucking brutal album. From the constant blast beats to the deep grunts provided by none other than Glen Benton, these guys don't mess around.
My first few times listening to this album I wasn't sure what I thought of it. The transitions from death metal to melody are often sudden and quite stark. One moment it'll be blasting at 200+ bpm, then the riff will end and a build up will occur to soaring melodies and less aggressive drumming. It's strange the first time it happens, but by the seventh or eighth time you start to realize that this is actually intended and a core part of Vital Remains sound on this album.
After taking my time with the album and really wrapping my head around it I've actually grown to like the sudden transitions in most of the songs. Some even are incredibly powerful, like one found in Devour Elysium where Benton screams "God you fucking whore!" at the top of his lungs as the melody starts to come in. Or the militaristic breakdown at the end of the title track: the guitars are repeating the main melody of the song with a snare drum march underneath them, all while the name of the song is being belted over top... goosebumps.
Vital Remains created one of the pinnacles of melodic death metal with Dechristianize. I can't emphasize enough how brutal this album is and how well the melodies are forced into that brutality. There isn't anything else out there like this album, and it is as potent now as it was when it first dropped. Brilliant.
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