Arizona’s melodic deather VEHEMENCE have started out impressively in their short band history. Founded back in 1995 they released their first demo in 1998 and shove their self-financed debut The Thoughts From Which I Hide in 2000 after. With this album and intensively touring the band could attract the attention of Metal Blade’s mastermind Brian Slagel which ended up in a multi-album deal. Bolstered this way and after new tours VEHEMENCE unleashed their second album God Was Created.
With this brand new album the American hopefuls present a really interesting mixture of melodic Death Metal which truly could be located in Scandinavia. But as soon as singer Nathan starts his abysmal vocals you will feel hocked to Florida. Throw bands like In Flames, a bit of Hypocrisy and old Amorphis in a pot and add a dish of Morbid Angel. Nathan’s abysmal growls come out of the deepest hell even Barnes would enjoy. Bassist Mark supports the singing with his own screaming and give the atmosphere a killing drive.
In an ultra brutal Death Metal framework the band lets flow in a lot of keyboard-driven, partly frisky melodies (Made Of Her Jesus). To give a proper dash of variety they enrich their music with acoustic guitars (She Never Noticed Me – where even piano tunes are to hear out) and some speed parts which remind to both Morbid Angel and Hypocrisy. In a musical way God Was Created is an intelligent produced album which kicks ass as hell, which is appealing and intensive. It makes fun and it is truly a crusher. I did not expect an album like that from an American band in 2002, since this scene is kind of bled to death. I am impressed, the guys made it!
One thing I have to nag about though is the running time of the most tracks which range between 5 and 9 minutes. At times it makes the album lengthy. Especially at the end the listener is apt to listen away, because the melodic parts got lower. Maybe next time not getting it out of hand this way but firmer.
A significant drawback I give for the cover and the lyrics, although I have to confess that the cover is pretty tame – compared with the cover from the debut or the demo. But it still looks kind of ridiculous. On the inside and the inlet they splatter as hell but also dilettantish. Concerning the lyrics Nathan dwells in antichristian-virginal violation and splatter orgies. You should not take them too serious, it even makes you grinning. Only exception is the title track God Was Created. The lyrics are surely a “matter of taste” but in Germany both lyrics and cover brought this album on the index. It means you cannot buy God Was Created in Germany; only via a few mailorders, while in other countries the album just got this usual Parental Advisory sticker. However, I think you can not drop off much entities of that album this way as a newcomer band. Less would have been more!