''In the Minds of Evil'' is the eleventh studio album by American
death metal
Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. It typically employs heavily distorted and low-tuned guitars, played with techniques such as palm muting and tremolo picking; deep growling vocals; aggressive, powerful drumming, feat ...
band
Deicide
Deicide is the killing (or the killer) of a god. The concept may be used for any act of killing a god, including a life-death-rebirth deity who is killed and then resurrected.
Etymology
The term deicide was coined in the 17th century from m ...
. It was released on November 25, 2013, by
Century Media Records
Century Media Records is a heavy metal record label with offices in the United States, Germany and London. In August 2015, Century Media was acquired by Sony Music for US$17 million.
Background
Century Media was founded by Robert Kampf and Oli ...
. It was the first album to feature guitarist Kevin Quirion and the last to feature guitarist
Jack Owen
Jack Owen (born December 6, 1967) is an American guitarist and a member of the death metal band Six Feet Under. He was one of the founding members of Cannibal Corpse. He stayed with the band from their formation in 1988 until 2004 when he left ...
. The album has been described as moving away from the melodic inclinations of the previous few albums and towards an "old school" death metal sound reminiscent of ''
Legion
Legion may refer to:
Military
* Roman legion, the basic military unit of the ancient Roman army
* Spanish Legion, an elite military unit within the Spanish Army
* Legion of the United States, a reorganization of the United States Army from 179 ...
''.
Style
Drummer Steve Asheim observed that the album was "a departure from our recent stuff and has more of an old school vibe. Not quite as melodic and very catchy riffs". Asheim elaborated further, explaining that the band wanted
Glen Benton
Glen Benton (born June 18, 1967) is an American death metal musician. He is best known as the lead vocalist and bassist for the death metal band Deicide and was also a part of the band Vital Remains, where he has performed in recording sessions ...
's vocals "to sound more old-school. So, it's a bit of the new with a little throwback action". Benton concurred, observing that Deicide has "settled into a permanent lineup and the writing process now is like the writing process was back in the beginning and we’re all showing up and writing the songs together. Everybody has an input and it shows". Benton cited the addition of guitarist Kevin Quirion as critical to ''In the Minds of Evil''.
Recording
Drummer Steve Asheim noted that producer
Jason Suecof
Jason Suecof (born April 3, 1980) is an American record producer, audio engineer and guitarist best known for his work with heavy metal bands such as Trivium, Battlecross, Death Angel, All That Remains, Bury Your Dead, The Black Dahlia Murder, ...
"wanted to capture the ''
Legion
Legion may refer to:
Military
* Roman legion, the basic military unit of the ancient Roman army
* Spanish Legion, an elite military unit within the Spanish Army
* Legion of the United States, a reorganization of the United States Army from 179 ...
'' feel" on ''In the Minds of Evil''. During the tracking of the album, Asheim revealed that he was performing with "a blown out shoulder. It hurt like hell. It kept dislocating, it was popping and cracking. I just dealt with the pain and got the job done though". Asheim further noted that his approach to drumming on the album was "mostly improvised". He explained in another interview that the composition of the album reflected both preparation and improvisation. "Some vocals and guitar and bass stuff ere improvised The song writing – the parts and structures – were all done pre-pro uction before we got there. But once we were in and mic'd up, there was a lot of on-the-spot stuff happening. Most of my drum fills were improv
sed
sed ("stream editor") is a Unix utility that parses and transforms text, using a simple, compact programming language. It was developed from 1973 to 1974 by Lee E. McMahon of Bell Labs,
and is available today for most operating systems.
sed wa ...
And I know the fellas just let loose with some on-the-fly kind of stuff together, and you can really hear that. I think the spontaneity and the energy, it really rings through".
Track listing
The song, “In the Minds of Evil”, contains a sample from The Dark Knight (2008).
Personnel
Deicide
*
Glen Benton
Glen Benton (born June 18, 1967) is an American death metal musician. He is best known as the lead vocalist and bassist for the death metal band Deicide and was also a part of the band Vital Remains, where he has performed in recording sessions ...
Jack Owen
Jack Owen (born December 6, 1967) is an American guitarist and a member of the death metal band Six Feet Under. He was one of the founding members of Cannibal Corpse. He stayed with the band from their formation in 1988 until 2004 when he left ...
– rhythm guitar
* Kevin Quirion – lead guitar
Additional personnel
*
Jason Suecof
Jason Suecof (born April 3, 1980) is an American record producer, audio engineer and guitarist best known for his work with heavy metal bands such as Trivium, Battlecross, Death Angel, All That Remains, Bury Your Dead, The Black Dahlia Murder, ...
–
production
Production may refer to:
Economics and business
* Production (economics)
* Production, the act of manufacturing goods
* Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services)
* Production as a stati ...
,
engineering
Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...