Diabolic – City of the Dead

Wow. So at first listen, things just were not sinking in. I was driving out to work on a  bright and sunny day, which is rare in Cleveland, and Diabolic was just not reaching me. Initially it sounded like an uninspired demo that I’ve heard a thousand times before. Once I left work however things did change, and boy did they change! I got out of work around 1am and thought I needed to give the record another listen. This time it hit me like a hammer!! I was almost confused, wondering if this was the same record I was listening to 9 hours prior!?! I’m not sure what happened, but once the sun went down and everything was cloaked in darkness, Diabolic roared it’s ugly head.

 

The songs are technical, but not overtly..think more like Monstrosity at their height rather than say, Spawn of Possession. Diabolic bring much more to the table than just technicality however. There is a feeling that comes with the music that just makes you want to snarl. While the music is very reminiscent of the heyday of Floridian death metal, ala the likes of early Malevolent Creation (who aren’t from Florida at all..figure that one out), there is an underlying evil the band exudes that brought Immolation to mind. These guys are also very underrated musicians.

The drums are backbreaking, and the riffs are frantic and ever changing. Everyone in the band is extremely proficient at their craft. The vocals are the only piece of the puzzle that are a little forgettable, though don’t be fooled, they suit the music to a tee. Later, while reading the press release I finally realized that this was in fact a demo all along! A demo from 1997 none the less, which floored me even more!  Along with the demo there are a few bonus tracks that were never included on the original, and a couple of very convincing covers, one being “Visions of the Darkside” by Morbid Angel (off of Altars of Madness) and the other, Slayer’s “Gemini” (original track off of Undisputed Attitude). While reading through the liner notes I discovered that the demo was produced by Lee Harrison (did someone say Monstrosity earlier?) and mastered by Jim Morris at Morrisound (did someone say Floridian death metal?)

 

Diabolic conjured up a very impressive demo that unfortunately was most likely overlooked at the time. While this release is not a must have, you can bet I’ll be going back through my collection and rediscovering their whole discography.

 

Score: 7 out of 10

 

Track List:

1. Denounce God
2. City of the Dead
3. Vortex
4. Encarta
5. Inborn
6. Visions from the Darkside*
7. Gemini**
8. Lucifer Induced

1-3 City of the Dead demo 1997
4-5 Bonus demo tracks
6 MORBID ANGEL cover *
7 SLAYER cover**
8 Brand new song recorded Nov 2013