Band: Dying Humanity
Title: Living On The Razor’s Edge
Label: Bastardized Recordings
Distribution: Massacre Records
Release date: November 4th 2011
Review: CD

During their five years of existence, Dying Humanity gained a lot of respect and fame in, especially, Europe. They played live with sweet combos like Vader, Destruction, Krisiun, Belphegor or Unleashed, and indeed, these live experiences were appreciated extremely positively by both audience and press. Personally I could really appreciate the band’s debut, 2007’s Fallen Paradise (released in October through Restrain Records), even though it lacked of authenticity (and apparently I did miss 2009’s Fragments Of An Incomplete Puzzle, Maintain Records).

Living On The Razor’s Edge is a conceptual album, produced, mixed and mastered at the fine German Soundlodge Studio by one of Germany’s best studio masters lately, Jörg Uken (think: Izegrim, Supreme Pain, Mephistopheles, The Seventh and many more). Because I haven’t heard the former album (and I don’t trust on other review[er]s), I can’t explain the link between the acceptable debut full length Fallen Paradise and the newly recorded Living On The Razor’s Edge, but what a progression this band made!
Dying Humanity did not change the initial essence of their raison d’être: performing borderless, timeless, spaceless and limitless Blast / Death Metal with a progressive twist, epic melodies, merciless fierceness and grotesque warlust. The influences from the USDM-scene have not gone completely – acts like Dying Fetus, Hate Eternal, Immolation etc. remain, and that’s just fine – but Dying Humanity defined their own identity. And that’s more than just fine. As well because of the remarkable cohesion all over the album. Even though Living On The Razor’s Edge is a thirty five minutes’ skull-breaker (only thirty five minutes, unfortunately), it never gets wrong. Each hymn, in spite of breathing hate and despair, consists of many levels, surpassing narrowed thoughts or idea(l)s. There’s lots of breathing space in between, because a thirty-plus-minutes’ blast would be disastrous, not? Still… Great idea anyway… No, too insufficient; and back to bizznizz now. Seriously, each time I listen to this album (and in between full-time working, taking care of a four-piece family, trying to listen to glorious stuff from my private collection from time to time, and muddling and puddling through the decadent yet tasteful stack of new (or re-issued) recordings I am honoured to listen to and review with professional self-respect every couple of weeks), I don’t sacrifice my precious time and my personal honour to each single promotional copy to listen to it more than a handful of times. In this case I did, and I will do it again.

90/100

Ivan Tibos.