### Deinonychus: Warfare machines

#### 30/12/10 || BigBoi

When a band decides to make an album themed after something so epic in scale and magnitude as WWII, it better deliver the goods. I expect to envision smoldering cities crushed under tank treads, shrapnel and debris raining down like ashes upon fallen soldiers.. in short, total fucking destruction! Excuse me if I’m too demanding, but you can’t be a bunch of slack-jawed faggots when it comes to WWII (yes that line is from “Predator”).

When I googled Deinonychus I didn’t get much information on the band, since apparently Deinonychus was a carnivorous dinosaur alive during the Cretaceous Period. I once heard a rumor that Hitler was planning on resurrecting thousands of velociraptors, strapping photon cannons to their backs and setting them loose throughout Europe. I’ll let you decide whether or not I made that up, but I guess this is where “Warfare machines” draws it’s historical connection to the band’s name. Deinonychus play a brand of mid-tempo doom metal with a few nods to black/death, and having been around long enough to squeeze out 7 full lengths, they seemed to have called it quits after this one. Lyrically, their final album focuses on the grizzly combat of the Eastern Front from the German viewpoint. Sounds intriguing eh? Well, about as much as microwaving a ham’n‘cheese hotpocket.

Let me tell you, if WWII was as boring and uninteresting as “Warfare Machines” is, the History Channel would be royally fucked. The majority of the tracks here just plod along in robotic fashion, lacking anything memorable to hook in the listener. You know it’s bad when after 3 consecutive listens I can only distinguish that many songs from each other. It would be a different story if Deinonychus sacrificed speed for suffocating heaviness and atmosphere, but they don’t. They fail quite miserably. Shit, the best parts on the album are when they decide to crawl out of the mud and break into some good blasting sections (“Carpet Bombing”, “Mg-34”) , but these moments are few and far between. “Warfare Machines” is a snoozefest of 4 minute songs that manage to feel closer to 10, and even though I’m as big a doom fan as the next bastard, the paraplegic pace here is agonizing. The exceptional vocal performance wasn’t even enough to stifle my yawns.

The two tracks I mentioned earlier are acceptable, and “False Flag” is an excellent cut with it’s mournful tone. In the end, however, Deinonychus succeed in only one thing: Causing WWII victims to turn in their graves. Ok, maybe it’s not a complete turdbag, but still…

- Information
- Released: 2007
- Label: My Kingdom Music
- Website: www.deinonychus.net
- Band
- Marco Kehren: vocals, guitars
- Arkdae: keyboards
- Jürgen Bartsch: bass
- Guiseppe Orlando: drums

- Tracklist
- 01. Krematorium
- 02. Carpet Bombing
- 03. Manoeuvre East
- 04. Napola
- 05. MG-34
- 06. False Flag
- 07. Nerve Agent
- 08. Morphium