Six Feet Under - "Death Rituals", 2008

After an unpretentious yet solid album such as "Commandment", nobody expected Six Feet Under to drop another one merely a year later; the chances of it being just a collection of material discarded from the previous songwriting sessions were high, but judging by the quality of the release, that luckily wasn't the case.

"Death Rituals" follows the positive trend of "Commandment", meaning it delivers old-school death metal without frills and reeking of decomposed bodies and open caskets, but this time there are several faster songs reminiscent of some of the band's older stuff, such as "Hacked to Pieces" and "Bonesaw" (from 1999's "Maximum Violence") or "The Day the Dead Walked" and "Waiting for Decay" (from 2001's "True Carnage"), just to name a few. In other words, we can find an abundance of the typical "reversed" drumbeat that Greg Gall regularly resorted to on the band's faster material, the one with the snare on 1 and 3 and the kick on 2 and 4. While functional enough to convey the straightforward brutality of the songs, that pattern kind of got old by the time "Death Rituals" was released, and the limits of his old-school drumming are clearly on display here, especially when he attempts some proper blast-beats on "None Will Escape", for instance. This said, for better or worse, his style contributed to the peculiar sound of the band for over 15 years, and he always did an excellent job on the slower and groovier material; therefore, let's give the man the props he deserves. This time, his drum sound feels more organic than on "Commandment", sounding especially good on the toms, although slightly less punchy on the snare; in fact, there's no more Rutan at the production's helm, and the band got back to Morrisound with Chris Carroll and Bill Metoyer behind the desk. Regardless, the record still displays a chunky and powerful sound - especially in the guitars and bass department - with all the instruments well-balanced in the mix.

A sinister, eerie clean guitar arpeggio starts off the excellent opener "Death by Machete" in a different way than usual, before escalating into pure death metal aggression with a familiar tremolo-picking riff, paired with groovy mid-tempos in the middle section and a nice solo by Swanson; the guitar player is on top of his game, and he probably delivers his best lead performances to date throughout the whole record, even lifting the less interesting cuts with his melodic taste and smooth picking. "None Will Escape" and "Into the Crematorium" (the latter introduced by a rather unorthodox dreamy bass interlude, courtesy of Butler) follow a similar structure, alternating hectic sections with some d-beats and double kick-laden riffs.

The mid-tempo songs the band is known for are not missing either. The down-tuned, crushing "Involuntary Movement of Dead Flesh" offers a trademark mix of double-kick-driven riffs and doomy breaks; "Eulogy for the Undead" stands out with a memorable main riff and Celtic Frost-esque speed-ups; "Killed in Your Sleep" is a gruesome tune that would have sat comfortably among the "Haunted" tracklist; and the massive "Murder Addiction" - while a bit more generic-sounding than the others - features some notable lead work by Swanson.

In the middle, the album drags a bit, with a Mötley Crüe cover version of "Bastard" (from the 1983 classic "Shout at the Devil") that sounds a tad slower than the original and could have been easily relegated to a B-side or bonus track, while "Seed of Filth" is a weird choice for a single, being a plodding tune that should have been switched with similar but better tracks, such as the unusually catchy "Ten Deadly Plagues" or "Shot in the Head", the latter featuring a spoken word intro by none other than the legendary Iggy Pop.

A couple of unnecessary filler interludes can be found sandwiched among the other songs: the ambient/electronic piece "Crossroads to Armageddon" and the short guitar instrumental "Crossing the River Styx", which showcases an unexpected black metal flavor and might have worked better as an album closer. Owners of the limited digipack edition are treated to three bonus live versions of old classics, recorded at the German festival Summer Breeze in the summer of 2008.

But what about Chris Barnes' performance? The vocals here sound similar to the ones on "Commandment", but most of the time he seems to push himself into his deeper growling range, echoing the approach he took on some "True Carnage" songs years before. He doesn't sound that deep or strong, but he still delivers the guttural goods. Lyrics-wise, he stays in his comfort splatter zone, and there's nothing to complain about, if not a slight lack of originality in the tackled subjects.

The artwork marks the fourth and last collaboration with graphic artist Meran Karanitant after "13", "A Decade in the Grave", and "Commandment", offering yet another variation of the classic skulls-themed Six Feet Under album covers; it looks dark yet classy, especially on the digipack version, where a silver paint is used to highlight some details.

Overall, "Death Rituals" is another solid release that benefits from a well-oiled line-up and - together with 2007's "Commandment" - can be ranked in the upper echelons of Six Feet Under's discography, although a few fillers could have been purged to improve the listening experience and to maximize the album's impact. On the other hand, it shows that this lineup had reached its full potential and that the songwriting couldn't be pushed further than this; the unit would still last for a few years before disintegrating, but 2012's "Undead" would prove what Barnes was capable of with the help of some new blood.