Broken Hope –
Omen of Disease (2013)
Century Media
Review by Jude
Felton
It’s been
over a decade since Broken Hope’s founding member, Jeremy Wagner put the band
into “metal hibernation”. That was just three years after the release of their
fifth album, Grotesque Blessings. Since then, the Chicago band’s original vocalist,
Joe Ptacek, tragically passed away in 2010. Now though, in 2013, the band are
back, reinvigorated and ready to lay waste to all those around them. Omen of
Disease is here, and it’s a damned brute.
After such an
extended absence from the world of music, the return could go one of either two
ways. It could go the way of the legendary Black Sabbath, and be a thoroughly underwhelming
experience, or it could smash us around the face, much in the way that the
mighty Carcass have with their return, the quite sublime Surgical Steel.
Well, I can
tell you right now that Broken Hope took the surgical route and, much like
Carcass, have delivered a truly monstrous slab of death metal. However, Omen of
Disease is not just an excellent death metal album; it’s a damned fine album
full stop. The introduction of Damian Leski on vocals has turned out to be a
true blessing, with his virtually indecipherable growls just adding to the
heaving mass of heaviness. Remember when Obituary first spat out Slowly we Rot,
and no one had any idea what John Tardy was singing about? Well that’s not too
far from what we get here and it’s bloody fantastic!
There are
thirteen songs contained on this album, of which one is an extended and ominous
intro, Septic Premonitions, and another being the 2012 redux of Incinerated,
and all are killer tracks. Only one, the title track, creeps over the 4 minute
mark, with the rest being short sharp blows to the head, with a very blunt
object.
Omen of
Disease is certainly no case of a band just knocking out a new album just for
the sack of it. Hell, that couldn’t be farther from the truth, as this sounds
just as fresh, if not fresher, and hungrier than bands that have only just bled
out their first album. This is heavy as hell, contains real songs and guitar
solos that actually work within the context of the material. Younger bands
could learn a hell of a lot from Wagner and Co.
With new
albums from Carcass and Autopsy, and platters set to arrive from the likes of
Deicide and Pestilence, Broken Hope are at the forefront of showing the world
that the old school among death metal are still the best at what they do, and
they mean business. Omen of Disease is an absolute monster of an album, and
with songs such as The Flesh Mechanic and Choked Out and Castrated, you really
can’t go far wrong.
Tracklist:
| 1. Intro / Septic Premonitions | |
| 2. Womb of Horrors | |
| 3. Ghastly | |
| 4. The Flesh Mechanic | |
| 5. Rendered into Lard | |
| 6. Omen of Disease | |
| 7. The Docking Dead | |
| 8. Give Me the Bottom Half | |
| 9. Predacious Poltergeist | |
| 10. Blood Gullet | |
| 11. Carnage Genesis | |
| 12. Choked Out and Castrated | |
| 13. Incinerated (2013 Redux) |
Omen of Disease is released in the U.S. on October 1st by Century Media.
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