The Bottom Line
Pros
- Legit, old-school death metal sound.
- Light years away from today’s pre-processed, homogenized DM style.
- Finally made available to diehards domestically.
Cons
- Not representative of where Convulse was truly headed on their 'Reflections' follow-up.
- Sounded more American than Finnish, which is NOT a good thing.
- Doesn't inspire a maintainable energy level or interest within the listen.
Description
- Released January 19, 2010 on Relapse Records.
- This is a reissue of Convulse’s first LP from 1992.
- Remastered, and contains the Resuscitation of Evilness demo tape as a bonus.
Guide Review - Convulse - 'World Without God'
Unfortunately, World Without God only serves as half of the Convulse story, and isn’t truly representative of the expansive territory the Finnish quartet would visit on their superior 1994 follow-up Reflections. Sure, this debut is chock full of gritty ‘n grizzled death metal churn, but the delivery here is a bit on the average side, and doesn’t differentiate itself as the album wears on.
Indeed, World Without God could actually pass itself off as an American death metal album with little effort, so ham-fisted and bludgeoning is the execution. Yes, the guitar work of Toni Honkala and vocalist Rami Jamsa is doom-laden, for sure…but it also gets a bit boring after a while. This isn’t helped much by the unimaginative drumming of Juppo Paavola or Jamsa’s one-dimensional growl.
If this review seems too overly harsh, it’s only because Reflections is such a triumph—grooved, fuzzed-out rock, with the band’s trademarked DM intensity firmly intact—and is so much more deserving of the reissue treatment than this effort. Yes, World Without God is a solid death metal album from the early '90s, but if we reissue everything from that time period, then the magic of those times will indeed be truly lost amidst all the sub-par releases littering the shelves.
World Without God is not essential, but Reflections certainly is. Seek it out.
