UMUR
"Reign Supreme" is the 7th full-length studio album by US death metal act Dying Fetus. The album was released through Relapse Records in June 2012. It´s the successor to "Descend Into Depravity" from 2009 and for the first time in a while there haven´t been any lineup changes between album releases. So the lineup still consists of guitarits/vocalist (and only remaining founding member) John Gallagher, drummer Trey Williams, and bassist/vocalist Sean Beasley.
Dying Fetus are widely considered to be among the elite when it comes to brutal technical death metal and "Reign Supreme" is yet another example of why that is. After a couple of more standard quality releases (which when it comes to Dying Fetus were still way above standard for the genre), Dying Fetus made a bit of a quality comeback with "Descend Into Depravity (2009)". An absolutely scorching technical brutal death metal release, which once again showed the world who are the kings of this particular type of death metal. That tendency is continued on "Reign Supreme" which may be an even stronger release than the predecessor.
Stylistically we´re treated to the trademark sound of Dying Fetus, which means the music features lightning fast riffing/shredding, fast precision drumming, the almost completely unintelligible processed growling vocals by Gallagher complimented by the slightly more intelligible aggressive growling vocals by Beasley, Tempo changes, breaks, crushingly brutal break downs featuring some mean groove laden riffs, death grinding parts and just general brutal mayhem. All designed to make your neck muscles work overtime.
While the material on the 9 track, 37:32 minutes long album aren´t the most varied in style, and it may take the uninitiated several spins to tell the tracks apart, "Reign Supreme" is actually one of the more memorable Dying Fetus releases with several standout tracks. Tracks like "Subjected to a Beating" and the ultra heavy "From Womb to Waste", as well as "In the Trenches" deserve a mention, but just as the case is with any other release in the band´s discography, it´s the consistency of the material which makes "Reign Supreme" such a strong release overall. A 4.5 star (90%) rating is deserved.