𝐅𝐑𝐎𝐌 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐑𝐘𝐏𝐓𝐒 - 𝐂𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐁𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐏𝐀𝐒𝐓 𝐀𝐋𝐁𝐔𝐌 𝐑𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐄𝐒 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐘 𝐨𝐟 𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐃 𝐑𝐎𝐂𝐊 & 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐕𝐘 𝐌𝐄𝐓𝐀𝐋…
August 22, 2006 — Deicide released their eighth studio album, The Stench of Redemption via Earache Records. (Listen)
It is the first album by the band to feature Jack Owen (formerly of Cannibal Corpse) and Ralph Santolla (R.I.P.) (formerly of Iced Earth) on guitars. Some editions of the album include a cover of Black Night by Deep Purple, with rewritten lyrics by Glen Benton.
The Stench of Redemption was Deicide's most successful release to date, peaking at No. 11 on the Top Heatseekers chart. Many critics praised The Stench of Redemption as a return to form for Deicide, despite the band losing both Eric and Brian Hoffman.
Background:
Two tracks, Homage for Satan and Crucified for Innocence, were released exclusively via iTunes on June 6, 2006. Deicide released these songs online because of financial problems that the band and Earache Records had. The band also cancelled some of their concerts because of these financial problems.
The album features themes of destruction and anti-Christianity. This is the first Deicide album to have writing credits attributed to individual band members.
There is a noticeable change in the guitar work, as guitar leads are much more prevalent. The style of the solos on the album is also drastically different from previous Deicide records. Ralph Santolla and Jack Owen utilize a Neo-Classical style of guitar soloing along with the traditional riffing of Deicide.
Drummer Steve Asheim said of the album, "𝙸‘𝚍 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚜𝚊𝚢 𝚂𝚝𝚎𝚗𝚌𝚑 𝚒𝚜 𝚍𝚎𝚏𝚒𝚗𝚒𝚝𝚎𝚕𝚢 𝚖𝚢 𝚏𝚊𝚟𝚘𝚛𝚒𝚝𝚎 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝙸‘𝚖 𝚖𝚘𝚜𝚝 𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚞𝚍 𝚘𝚏, 𝙱𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚘𝚗 𝚝𝚘𝚘 𝙸 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚔. 𝙸𝚝 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚢 𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚌𝚊𝚖𝚎 𝚝𝚘𝚐𝚎𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚘𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚘𝚗𝚎, 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚖𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚒𝚊𝚕, 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚙𝚕𝚊𝚢𝚎𝚛𝚜, 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚍, 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚟𝚒𝚋𝚎... 𝙸𝚝 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚊 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚕 𝚙𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚞𝚛𝚎 𝚍𝚘𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚛𝚎𝚌𝚘𝚛𝚍 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚎-𝚞𝚙, 𝚊𝚕𝚖𝚘𝚜𝚝 𝚎𝚏𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚝𝚕𝚎𝚜𝚜."
Critical Reception:
The Stench of Redemption met with positive reviews, with most reviewers praising the added melodic dimension, which they attribute to the new guitarists. Chad Bowar, writing for About.com, praised the guitar team for "𝚋𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚝𝚑[𝚒𝚗𝚐] 𝚗𝚎𝚠 𝚕𝚒𝚏𝚎 𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚘 𝙳𝚎𝚒𝚌𝚒𝚍𝚎‘𝚜 𝚊𝚙𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚊𝚌𝚑. 𝚈𝚘𝚞 𝚖𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚗 𝚗𝚘𝚝𝚒𝚌𝚎 𝚋𝚎𝚌𝚊𝚞𝚜𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚋𝚕𝚊𝚜𝚝 𝚋𝚎𝚊𝚝𝚜 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚋𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚔𝚗𝚎𝚌𝚔 𝚛𝚒𝚏𝚏𝚒𝚗𝚐, 𝚋𝚞𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎 𝚊𝚌𝚝𝚞𝚊𝚕 𝚖𝚎𝚕𝚘𝚍𝚒𝚎𝚜 𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎. 𝚃𝚑𝚎𝚢 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚊𝚍𝚍𝚎𝚍 𝚊 𝚜𝚞𝚋𝚝𝚕𝚎 𝚕𝚊𝚢𝚎𝚛 𝚘𝚏 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚙𝚕𝚎𝚡𝚒𝚝𝚢 𝚝𝚘 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚋𝚊𝚗𝚍,𝚜 𝚋𝚛𝚞𝚝𝚊𝚕 𝚊𝚛𝚜𝚎𝚗𝚊𝚕, 𝚠𝚑𝚒𝚌𝚑 𝚖𝚊𝚔𝚎𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚘𝚗𝚐𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚖𝚞𝚌𝚑 𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚎 𝚙𝚘𝚠𝚎𝚛𝚏𝚞𝚕".
Similarly, Scott Alisoglu wrote for Blabbermouth.net that the new guitarists "𝚊𝚍𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝙳𝚎𝚒𝚌𝚒𝚍𝚎‘𝚜 𝚕𝚎𝚐𝚎𝚗𝚍𝚊𝚛𝚢 𝙳𝚎𝚊𝚝𝚑 𝙼𝚎𝚝𝚊𝚕 𝚜𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚍 𝚋𝚢 𝚞𝚙𝚙𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚒𝚡-𝚜𝚝𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚍𝚢𝚗𝚊𝚖𝚒𝚌𝚜 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚐𝚒𝚟𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚜𝚎 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚙𝚘𝚜𝚒𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚜 𝚊 𝚖𝚞𝚌𝚑-𝚗𝚎𝚎𝚍𝚎𝚍 𝚒𝚗𝚓𝚎𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚘𝚏 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚙𝚘𝚜𝚒𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚊𝚕 𝚍𝚎𝚙𝚝𝚑. 𝚃𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚍𝚘𝚎𝚜 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚖𝚎𝚊𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚠𝚘𝚗‘𝚝 𝚛𝚎𝚌𝚘𝚐𝚗𝚒𝚣𝚎 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚂𝚝𝚎𝚗𝚌𝚑 𝚘𝚏 𝚁𝚎𝚍𝚎𝚖𝚙𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚊𝚜 𝚊𝚗𝚢𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚋𝚞𝚝 𝚊 𝙷𝚎𝚕𝚕-𝚏𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚍 𝙳𝚎𝚒𝚌𝚒𝚍𝚎 𝚊𝚕𝚋𝚞𝚖, 𝚘𝚗𝚕𝚢 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚊𝚍𝚍𝚎𝚍 𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚛𝚎𝚍𝚒𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚜 𝚙𝚞𝚜𝚑 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚊𝚕𝚋𝚞𝚖 𝚝𝚘 𝚑𝚎𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝𝚜 𝚙𝚛𝚎𝚟𝚒𝚘𝚞𝚜𝚕𝚢 𝚞𝚗𝚊𝚝𝚝𝚊𝚒𝚗𝚎𝚍".
Jackie Smit, writing for Chronicles of Chaos, claimed that the addition of Jack Owen and Ralph Santolla not only "𝚕𝚒𝚝 𝚞𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚛𝚎𝚖𝚊𝚒𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚘𝚛𝚒𝚐𝚒𝚗𝚊𝚕 𝚖𝚎𝚖𝚋𝚎𝚛𝚜 𝚌𝚘𝚕𝚕𝚎𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚟𝚎 𝚋𝚎𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚍𝚜", but also added a melodic dimension "𝚞𝚗𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎 𝚊𝚗𝚢𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝙷𝚘𝚏𝚏𝚖𝚊𝚗 𝚋𝚛𝚘𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚜 𝚠𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚊𝚋𝚕𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚖𝚞𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚛".
Referring to the album as "𝚞𝚗𝚊𝚙𝚘𝚕𝚘𝚐𝚎𝚝𝚒𝚌𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚢 𝚖𝚎𝚕𝚘𝚍𝚒𝚌", Cosmo Lee wrote in Stylus Magazine that The Stench of Redemption is "𝚗𝚘 𝚕𝚎𝚜𝚜 𝚋𝚛𝚞𝚝𝚊𝚕" as a result of the melodic inclinations, and praised Steve Asheim's "𝚖𝚊𝚜𝚜𝚒𝚟𝚎, 𝚖𝚎𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚊𝚋𝚕𝚎" riffs and Benton's "𝚍𝚒𝚊𝚋𝚘𝚕𝚒𝚌𝚊𝚕" vocals.
Watch the Official Music Video for Homage for Satan.
Notice: Any reviews shared here are for historical reference. The views and opinions expressed within are not always supported (in full or in part) by Into the Wells. — E.N. Wells
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IN REMEMBRANCE...
Ralph Santolla (December 8, 1966 – June 7, 2018)