Dying Fetus have always belonged more to the clinical dismemberment school of death metal than all that flailing hack-and-slash madness: still no less deadly, certainly more unsettling. Sounds fun, right? Fans will be pleased to hear that Make Them Beg For Death has them doing what they do best, again. And yes, it is a lot of fun.
Chugging riffs are interspersed with cute melodic trills over the machine-gun blasts of the drums, John Gallagher’s guttural bellows rounding out the frankly horrifying picture. The playing is fast, furious, and brilliant; the songs are instantly headbang-inducing, and just a little sickening. This is most certainly a Dying Fetus record, a good one too. But it is also only that.
Make Them Beg For Death is not going to change anyone’s mind on this band. The likes of ‘Enlighten Through Agony’ and ‘Throw Them In The Van’ will get added to people’s favourites playlists. Yet no one will listen to either of those tracks and suddenly find a new-found appreciation for Dying Fetus that they wouldn’t have found on any of the previous eight albums.
Samey? Safe? These words feel a little too harsh for what is an enjoyable offering, but they are also fairly close to the mark. There is no doubt here that Make Them Beg For Death is a worthy addition to the Dying Fetus catalogue. Will it be talked about as a high point in retrospect? Unlikely. An embarrassment? Most definitely not.
