Open Denile - "Visions Of The Next Dimension"

It is my pleasure to review for you "Visions Of The Next Dimension", the brand new full-length release by my BXDM brothers Open Denile. Opening the disk with a 2 minute eerie keyboard melody aptly titled "Descent Into Denile", the mood is set and the listener is given an immediate boot to the throat with the opening riffs of "Vivid Degradation". This 7 and a half minute monster is filled with crushing riffs, an abundance of shredding on the keys and guitar and a great contrast of guttural growls and melodic singing. This track is the ultimate example of what Open Denile truly is as a band, super brutal, very complex and progressive, lots of tempo shifting going from almost black metal speed to big open catchy pieces and tons of melody to spare. Think if Dream Theater were to go in a more extreme direction and collaborate with Children Of Bodom during the "Hatebreeder/Hate Crew Death Roll" years and you'd get something close to what Open Denile serve up musically. "Pathogen Eradication" sears through the speakers next, full speed ahead with intricate riffing and classic black metal tremolo picking, all the while with the keys creating a dark, haunting aura in the background. The lyrics in this tune, tell a tale of armageddon and the imminent path of self destruction mankind is on par for. The crazy break that begins at 3:50 includes face-melting guitar wizardry, and even gets kind of mellow and jazzy with epic guitar vs. keyboard pieces. This is thinking mans death metal, no mindless breakdowns, endless blast beating, no blood soaked tales of murder and gore, and no satanic blasphemy for added shock value. This band is all about 1 thing, musicianship, and thats what these 4 guys serve up through this entire offering. "Perish" is next and probably my favorite track on this amazing disk. How can you NOT love a 9 minute and 27 second epic dirge about a zombie holocaust?! 9 plus minutes may seem like alot of time, and Open Denile to fill that space with a ton of music, but this track flows seemlessly. There's no "Hey look what we can do" showboating, this is well crafted, extremely heavy, and they addition of keys over this track make it beautiful. Yeah I just said a song about zombies is beautiful, and unless Open Denile write "Perish part 2" I dont think I'll ever be able to say that again. The instrumental "An Absolute Memory" kicks in next. Just when you though Open Denile may have pulled every trick from their sleeves, where the heck did THIS track come from?! Acoustic guitars, mellow jazz inspired pieces that sway back and forth effortlessly, and more keyboard vs. guitar insanity. This track is almost a welcome "Intermission" if you will, to the brutal beating that proceeded it and a great setup for the 2 ragers to follow and close this disk out. "Blessed" is next and after a nice acoustic intro, goes straight for the jugular with heaviness. This track is a little more straightforward than the others, great classic metal vibe in the verse riffing and the chorus is extra catchy with an almost In Flames sort of feeling. This track is where Open Denile shows us they dont have to be chaotic and constantly blow our minds with progression to write a great song with a real solid punch to it, although the lead key and guitar solo's will have you running to the store looking for a new face, as yours will be melted off. "Immortalized" brings this disk to a close, with lots of frantic riffing, at a feverish black metal fueled pace. Again the lyrics here really stand out, from the point of view of a man feeling crushed, and betrayed and revolting against religion. Once "Visions Of The Next Dimension" comes to a stop, you'll be hard pressed not to press that replay button and go through this extremely brutal musical journey again. As I said before, this is thinking man's death metal, and Open Denial spew forth nothing but an abundance of talent and insane levels of creativity. There is no other band in the tri-state area and New York especially, doing what Open Denile does at the level they do it. "Visions Of The Next Dimension" pleases the metal enthusiast on many levels, and if you truly love metal this disk deserves a spot in your music library. Open Denile will officially be unleashing this masterpiece on the world on Saturday, June 9th at their record release show at Arena 80-12 51st Ave. Elmhurst,NY 11377. Performing along with Open Denile will be Left In Ruins, Engraved, Fall Of The Albatross, Irony Of Chaos, I Am The Trireme, Hypoxia and Cryptodira. This is an amazing event you dont want to miss, and this is an album you cant afford not to own! Come on out, buy a copy of "Visions Of The Next Dimension" and support some of the hardest working bands in the underground! You can hear cuts from this disk and all your underground favorites every Thursday from 7pm to 10pm EST at www.brutalexistenceradio.com.