Crunch Time: Dying Fetus

It's been awhile since the last edition of Crunch Time (where I gush over my favorite HEAVY metal riffs). To make up for the lost time, today's installment is a doozy. As in, retarded-ly brutal.

circa 2000 lineup

Dying Fetus was formed in the early 90's by John Gallagher (baldy) and Jason Netherton (black hair). The band's mid 90's output saw them rise to prominence in the underground metal scene, culminating with 2000's Destroy The Opposition, the band's magnum opus and easily one of the best death metal albums of the past decade. Shortly after the album's release however, Netherton exited the band along with the two other dudes in the picture to form Misery Index....leaving Gallagher and the name Dying Fetus on his own. Gallagher brushed up a new (and still ever changing) lineup and continues slamming in Dying Fetus to this day.

As much as I love both current bands, nothing touches Destroy the Opposition in my book. Gallagher really stepped up the technical aspect of the band's guitar sound ( arpeggios & pinch harmonics FTW) as well as his disgustingly awesome guttural/burp vocals. Kevin Talley was barely 21 years old when he annihilated the drums on this record and Netherton's lyrics were just the icing on the cake. So without further ado, here's the first track off Dying Fetus' Destroy The Opposition, and today's Crunch Time feature, "Praise The Lord (Opium For The Masses)."

(NO THE SONG ISN'T 9 MINS LONG....damn YOUTUBE)
Lyrics for the curious:

One by one, the young will fall, indoctrinating process growing.
Some too weak to fight at all, who controls their future?
God above, or God below, questions no one can answer.
Live the truth, or die to know, it's my agnostic vision.

Jews killing Muslims, and Christians killing Jews.
The circle is unending, and all sides always lose.
If faith is blind devotion, then death is the result.
When history is rotten, the young young and pure grow dead and cold.

I don't need a book for saving, fellowship or days of praying.
Organizing means dilution, and results in persecution.
Through it all I keep a vision, understand what I believe in.
Truth is not the faith you follow, it's far more than you can ever know.

Religion, the burden we carry forth.
Mankind, addicted--the drug spreads on.
Paranoia eats all reason, driving their crusading mission.
Zealotry from Rome to Mecca, millions more become infected.
God cannot be mass-projected, or beaten out through forced confessions.
It's for all of us to ponder, not for dogma's chains to hold us down.
Wake up, and put the past where it belongs.

Just beat them back till they are gone, 'cause their doctrines lead to misery.
They're prophets preaching fantasy, how can they hold themselves
above the rest?

From holy birth to martyr's death, the moral quest for life beyond.
It's just a pipe dream for the paranoid, the empty words of holy books
will mislead all those that read.

Buried in the lines of text are the myths that feed their needs.
Born from flesh, just like all earth down below,
which came from a life form we can never know (in our present context).
Pray for a world that only God above can save?
The church is the reason why they've lost their way.
Crusades and Inquisitions, holy wars, Jihad,
they are the willing victims of a grand facade.

Above it all, the lies are told. The masses follow without question.
First to die, or last to go, I know my convictions.
Flesh and blood, and spirit life, the trinity of my perception.
Dead awake, or sleeping dead, we will find out in the end

FUuuuuuuuuuuck is all I have to say. I've listened to that song for most of the 00's and still haven't gotten sick of it yet. The crushing groove of that intro riff should be outlawed it's so ridiculous. I know this type of music isn't for everyone, but the power of that riff cannot be denied! Here's a different version of this song I think many a blogger might appreciate: