Vital Remains

Vital Remains, from Providence, Rhode Island, has been around for twenty years. As pioneers of death metal, these guys aren't often among the first to be named by fans of the genre. However, the band's signature mixture of melodic yet punishing music blurs the line between death and black metal...

By Tom Murphy

November 12, 2009

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Vital Remains, from Providence, Rhode Island, has been around for twenty years. As pioneers of death metal, these guys aren't often among the first to be named by fans of the genre. However, the band's signature mixture of melodic yet punishing music blurs the line between death and black metal. From the beginning, Remains was vehemently anti-religion because of how it has been used as a means of warping minds and serving as a pretext for violence. In 2001, Deicide's Glen Benton joined Vital Remains for two albums, including the appropriately titled Dechristianize with its gleefully blasphemous lyrical content. The rapid-fire jackhammer kick drum and Paganini-esque guitar work can be off-putting, but there's no denying this group's sense of liberating outrage and seething intensity.

Tom Murphy is a writer, visual artist and musician from Aurora, Colorado. He was a prolific music writer for Westword and a documenter of the Denver music scene.

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