Albums by this artist

In The Eyes Of God (1999)

Today Is The Day

In The Eyes Of God

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» PIERO SCARUFFI | STAFF WRITER

Today Is The Day In The Eyes Of God Relapse, 1999 RiYL: Napalm Death, Neurosis, Metallica, Type O Negative

TITD mainman Steve Austin relocated to Massachussetts and enrolled a new drummer Bran Dailor and bassist Bill Kelliher (both of Lethargy) prior to the sessions for In The Eyes Of God. He must also have started listening to his Napalm Death tapes, because the new Today Is The Day bears little resemblance to the previous incarnation. In The Eyes Of God comes as a shock even from somebody like Austin, who has always surprised the audience and the critics with every new album.

In The Eyes Of God lines up 20 short tracks of super-charged grindcore and religious cult-inspired lyrics. Taking off with the demented cardiac arrest of the title track, TITD careens through the macabre visions and atrocious screams of "Spotting A Unicorn" and "The Color Of Psychic Power." Austin spits insults and obscenities with visceral hate, while the drums hammer mercilessly and the bass lays down a layer of sinister noise.

Reinventing heavy metal is not an easy chore: the agonizing "Going To Hell" opens with a medieval soprano and monk choir, while "Martial Law" fakes a hoedown before plunging into a frenzy. "Argali" borrows more than a fair share of Black Sabbath's slow, grinding groove and King Crimson's majestic riffing. Hell could not be darker than this.

PIERO SCARUFFI | Piero Scaruffi runs the exhaustive music database Scaruffi.com. A native of Italy, he has also been praised for his work on the General Theory of Relativity, formal theories of the mind, and artificial intelligence. And no, we aren't making that up.