The divorce of Hoffman brothers from Deicide has been messy and public to an extent. After a few down years, Eric and Bryan are back apparently, with a band which actually pre-dated Deicide. I honestly did not know it myself but the Deicide moniker appeared only because the original members of Amon, the band the Hoffmans just resurrected, was forced to change their name to Deicide by a label.

So, with Liar in Wait Amon is officially back, with what actually is their first full-length album ever, after a pair of unknown promos in the late 80s. The temptation to compare Liar in Wait with Deicide, before the Hoffmans departed and now, is, of course, tremendous and rather logical, so I am going to try and avoid it altogether. The harder review would be to try and judge the album on its own merits.

At first, and this is honest, I wasn’t quite enamored with Liar in Wait, especially because the opening pair of tracks, Among Us and Eye of the Infinite, are not the album’s strongest. The riffs here, and in a couple of other places on the album (Wraith of Gaia), seem a little chaotic, haphazard and thrown together without a sense of purpose. Eye of the Infinite is rushing, spurring things on, tripping all over itself, and Among Us doesn’t click either until the solo hits. Speaking of the leads, those are excellent and seem to be often a point of emphasis on Liar in Wait, almost at the expense of other songwriting points.

It wasn’t until Lash Thy Tongue and Vomit Lies came on, so appropriate of its title, with guitars stabbing with the “lashings” with consistent urgency. The middle of the record is where the album gains strength and focus, with this firmness and resolve carrying into the title track, followed by another set of persistent riffs with interesting swirls in Reaching for Flesh.

Vocally, Jechael Jolly rumbles on with a pretty typical growl, helped by background screams. Definitely not stepping away much from Floridian USDM, Amon delivers something generally acceptable for the most dedicated fans of the style, but Liar in Wait is not bound to be a monumental revolutionary album in that genre. And it certainly does not push any boundaries beyond that style of metal either. The fans of Vital Remains and, yes, Deicide may find redeeming value in Liar in Wait.