Dogmatic

“Tonight… We dine in hell!” Pretty apt. This ubiquitous quote from ‘300′ serves well as the appropriate punctuation to the brief instrumental prelude as well as being the perfect bridge into the aural assault that’s about to be unleashed.

The title track ‘Declaration’ opens the proceedings at a blistering pace and there’s no real let up, aside a few meaty breakdowns, until we reach the magnificent ‘There Was a Flood’. One of my faves on the album, it teases with the ominous and haunting opening as though it’s going to delve into ‘Perfect Circle’ type power ballad, only to fire up and then give minimal respite with a catchy melodic vocal. Fittingly, the first single ‘Death Anxiety’ has the characteristic melodic formula reminiscent of ‘The Truth’, but at the same time it’s heavy riff is a good insight into the direction of this new work. Follow the lyric sheet, and it’s clear there’s some serious anger issues coming to the fore here.

At times, my untrained ears find it hard putting bands and their music into genres and I may well be wrong, but this ‘Bleeding Through’ release seems to be veering the band more and more into the realms of Death Metal. As much as I have loved all their previous efforts, it’s possible that at times maybe I was just tolerating the thrashier parts of the songs waiting for the more melodic vocals to kick in. On ‘Declaration’ though, this emphasis on melodies has been stripped back and while still present, what remains is a brutal album with substantially more aggression and punch.

You have to hand it to Devin Townsend, what on the surface may appear to be an unusual band-producer pairing, has ultimately resulted in an album that after just one listen, will have you thinking your epididymis couldn’t possibly be wound any tighter. Contender for one of the top releases of 2008.