freely admit, to you and everyone else, that death metal is stupid. Riddled with accurate stereotypes -- fat, long-haired nerds who use boring, belching vocals and unnecessary technicality to compensate for a lack of flirting skills; dudes who use evil to cover up their b.o. -- death metal is formulaic and often silly. But this is the concept of death metal, the idea of death metal, and while it applies to almost every single death metal band in existence today, it doesn’t negate the fact that some death metal bands are actually pretty fantastic. True, great death metal is in short supply, but it always has been. Take the time to investigate the most highly regarded death metal albums and you’ll end up with a list that includes names like Morbid Angel, Carcass, Deicide, Cannibal Corpse, Suffocation, Nile and Cryptopsy, with Nile being the only band to release genre-improving music in the past seven years. In those seven years, death metal has continually wilted into the weak stereotypes everyone -- from pious indie knob to death metal scholar -- is familiar with.


The main problem is that death metal bands tend to favour eye-widening brutality over songwriting. The bands mentioned above infused their music with hooks, rock solid structure and distinctive vocals; modern bands tend to mire themselves in masturbatory blast and growl that impresses no one without a subscription to Modern Drummer. The most disappointing metal albums this year have suffered from misfired ambition and arthritis-encouraging fret-board wizardry; the best metal has been direct, intense and song-driven. The losers: Origin and Nile. The winners: the Crown and Centurian.


Liber Zar Zax, while not a monumental testament to the power of blackened death metal, is still an excellent example of what death metal should sound be: fiery, fast, violent and serious. Yes, the double kick drum rumbles from beginning to end, and yeah, the growled vocals are inescapable, but damn it, Centurian writes songs, and as blazing and complex as these songs are, not once does the playing seem superfluous or autoerotic. It’s vicious, it’s raw and it contains a song called “Ritually Slaughtered For Satan”. Need I say more?


Yes. As obsessed with evil as it is, Liber Zar Zax invokes more than just Satan; the spirit and sound of Morbid Angel’s Altars of Madness and Deicide’s Legion courses through the album, sewing into its flesh threads of familiarity while never rendering Centurian’s music redundant, rehashed or useless. Each song barrels forward at full throttle -- direct, intense and unwavering -- a blackened marriage of shred and dread. “The Reading (Zarzax Unto Zax)” is relentless, catapulting seamlessly and mercilessly from the blasting roar of the verse to the screech of the chorus to the thrashed-out pounding of the break. “Conjuration for Choronzon” displays the band’s dynamic power, a maelstrom of harsh, manic movements sped through fast enough to keep you guessing, but not so fast that they drill clear through your skull without leaving an impression. “Colosseum of Blood” is the band at their most simple, allowing them to rip into the song mindlessly, ruthlessly, deliciously. But the most telling track is “Fornicating the Nazarene”, a furious, bracing four and a half minutes which, just like the album, grows more stupefying, heavy and impressive as it progresses.


Less an improvement on death metal than it is an inspired tribute, Liber Zar Zax is enough to prevent the demise of the genre for another calendar year. Centurian has not descended upon us intent on eradicating the lameness that permeates death metal, but they have avoided it completely. At this stage in the game, that amounts to greatness.