Lie in Ruins - Towards Divine Death

Lie in Ruins
Towards Divine Death
2014 Dark Descent
To kick off the year, Colorado's Dark Descent Records came out of the gate with all guns blazing.  "Towards Divine Death" is the first in a trifecta of releases they know will assault your senses.  It's been my extreme pleasure to have been able to follow Finland's Lie in Ruins since their demo days.  As ever, they have that darker take on the sound pioneered by Stockholm.  Mix-wise, they've gone a little heavier, with a sound closer to most of the rest of Dark Descent's roster.  It's a little odd in that
everything seems to be on the same level except the vocals.  Those are lower in the mix, and with a muddier sound than the rest.  The effect is almost like everyone in the band is playing on solid ground, except vocalist Roni S, who apparently is standing in a deep hole.  This is all definitely a different direction than what was heard on "Swallowed by the Void." That album had a much cleaner mix and more of a standard sound... even it's not as bold and heavy as what can be found on the new album.  This is where I get fascinated by the whole mixing process.  Just a few tweaks here and a few there, and the entire character of an album can be changed.  I'm fairly certain that they initially started off with the same kind of mix they've had in the past, but then got the idea to make everything sound darker and heavier.  I'd say they were mostly successful, but the way the vocals have been almost buried underneath everything else just irks me.  Even so, you can tell that they put in some time and effort to get this sound.  Just compare it to something like... say... the last release of Killing Addiction, which sounded like it was just thrown together with no goal other than that of just getting it done and over with.  The recordings themselves may have been a mess to begin with, but that album didn't sound like they did much to help themselves or correct anything while mixing.  The result was an unlistenable failure.  This, on the other hand, is not unlistenable, but not quite a total success either.  For the most part it works.  You just need to let your ears adjust first.  Do so, and you'll most likely agree this may be one of the darker and heavier slabs of death metal you'll hear this year.