Decrepit Birth - ...And Time Begins

This album is before Decrepit Birth went to the technical side of things. Bill told me that when they first started out that their goal was to be the most brutal band of all time. Seven years before they went to Nuclear Blast, the small group of San Francisco potheads known as Decrepit Birth released the album that would start it all. At the time of the album’s release, the metalhead community was too caught up with rising bands such as Nile, Suffocation, Vital Remains, Bloodbath, Cattle Decapitation, Dying Fetus, Children of Bodom, and the new Arch Enemy to notice this obscure debut. It wasn’t until late 2005 when Frank Mullen of Suffocation uncovered this record and decided to give it a listen. After he heard it, he told EVERYONE, and the journey for Decrepit Birth does nothing but get better after that.

When Bill told me that this album was their attempt at being the most brutal band of all time, I thought it would just sound like Morbid Angel or Cannibal Corpse, but I was very wrong. He said this album is brutal, and he was not kidding. At that concert, which was my fourth time seeing them live, I decided to complete my Decrepit Birth collection by buying their first two albums. I put the CD in and the sheer brutality of the first track took me by surprise.

Bill’s lyrics have always been science fiction oriented. He claims to get most of his inspiration from books and organic stimulants and hallucinogens. He also gets a lot of inspiration from other bands like Suffocation, Odious Mortem, and Death. He is also a HUGE supporter of the San Francisco Bay metal scene. If you look at the list of bands that they created in the booklet of most of their albums, you will see that about 40% of the bands are from California.

Now music cannot be good with brutality and speed alone, it has to create an emotion within the listener. You like the certain bands that you do because a particular emotion is stirred inside you whenever you listen to one of them. This album has created emotion in thousands of listeners around the world.

There are some things about this album that I would rather do without. The first is that the kickdrums have no bass; they have a really high-pitched click sound that doesn’t sound natural. The kickdrums need to have a deep, boomy sound, not a high-pitched tapping. Although I will say that when the kickdrums are tuned up, it makes the drums sound a lot more technical. There isn’t really much interesting stuff going on in the guitars other than low chords and trembolo picking with the occasional solo.

Their bassist has always been one of my personal favorites. I think that he does better on this album than on any of their other albums; although he did an outstanding job on Polarity. Bill’s signature ultra-deep growls have always been one of my personal favorites. This is a great brutal death album that everyone should give a spin. 18/20.