Review: Cattle Decapitation – The Harvest Floor
CATTLE DECAPITATION
The Harvest Floor (2009)
USA, Metal Blade Records, Technical Deathgrind
This is an article I wrote a few years past for the then-current release of The Harvest Floor. I thought it seemed particularly relevant with the recent release of the new Cattle Decapitation album Monolith of Inhumanity, which TDM will be doing a staff review on shortly. This was printed in a publication with approximately five readers that considered themselves fans of metal – one of them being me – hence, the intended audience is not the normal TDM clientele. Aside from the very last sentence, the article remains as it was originally printed.
Read MoreReview: Saprogenic – The Wet Sound Of Flesh On Concrete
SAPROGENIC
The Wet Sound Of Flesh On Concrete (2003)
USA, Deepsend Records, ‘Brutal’ ‘Technical’ Death Metal.
There’s absolutely no need to sugarcoat this; Saprogenic’s ‘The Wet Sound Of Flesh On Concrete’ is one of the most thoroughly mediocre, intentionally over-hyped and laughably lauded Death Metal releases I’ve ever heard. People have heaped praise onto this album as some sort of ‘Planisphærium’-esque ‘transcendence’ of Brutal Death Metal when in reality it’s a poorly produced cluster of wasted potential, horrible drumming and failed songwriting that while actively trying to be more than Brutal Death Metal ends up as something so bankrupt it’s actually a bit pathetic. Unlike other Brutal and Technical Death Metal overlaps/experimentation, Saprogenic has no clear understanding of either genre, their respective strengths and how exactly to play to those strengths while making their own distinctive mark. Someone had the balls to once say ‘She Lay Gutted worships at the altar of Saprogenic’. People who make statements like that IN A DREAM better wake up and apologize, especially if it’s in relation to an album like this, which for some reason or another hasn’t been entirely discarded and forgotten already. Allow me to explain exactly why that should be the case…
Read MoreReview: Sentenced To Dissection – Between The Worlds
SENTENCED TO DISSECTION
Between The Worlds (2012)
Russia, Self-released, Technical Death Metal/Deathcore.
Oh Russian Tech-Death, why must we continue to play this game? I know you’re capable of creating mind-blowing tech-death extravaganzas that give the very best a run for their money (Monumental Torment’s ‘Element Of Chaos’) but then you turn around and start fellating Beneath The Massacre, resulting in a series of bands that could be wonderful tech-death but instead squeal and breakdown like there’s no tomorrow in between constant weedily deedling that makes haters cream themselves for reinforcing their caricature of the genre. (Genocide Of Prescription, Sentenced To Dissection) Even Beneath The Massacre’s finally eased up on their wholehearted ‘wankery’ stereotype embrace, so there’s no excuse for this. Deathcore was never something to emulate in the first place (unless it’s Abiotic but that’s a completely different story) but releasing an album in 2012 as fond of the most commonly derelict, fundamentally broken version of the ‘genre’ as ‘Between The Worlds’ is so blatantly insulting it hurts.
Read MoreReview: Gorod – A Perfect Absolution
GOROD
A Perfect Absolution (2012)
France, Listenable Records, Technical Death Metal
In my opinion, Gorod is a leading technical death metal group. They fits easily in twenty of my favorite bands, and so it is since the release of “Neurotripsicks”, under the name of Gorgasm. “A Perfect Absolution” is already fourth release from them. Speaking of which that isn’t too innovative or that it is a “typical” tech death it’s a bit of misunderstanding. Boys show a remarkable tumbling by the whole 40 minutes. They cleverly juggle between brutal vocals and melodic solos. They’re breaking the tempo in various critical points of compositions and at different time intervals. This is a very controlled, technical art of writing metal that has all the characteristics of universality and influences of other genres. These include, among other things – progressive metal (see “Carved In The Wind”) and neo-classical death metal (eg, “Elements and Spirit”). We can also find some jazzy moments but nothing significant.
Read MoreReview: Hour of Penance – Sedition
HOUR OF PENANCE
Sedition (2012)
Italy, Prosthetic Records, Technical Brutal Death Metal
Hour of Penance is one of those bands that I don’t give nearly the attention they deserve. However, after hearing 2012′s Sedition, I realized that I have been making a serious, grievous, and all around appalling error. Hour of Penance maintain their place among the upper echelon of technical death metal with the storm of enlightened savagery that is Sedition.
Italy’s Hour of Penance play a similar galloping death to Oracles era Fleshgod Apocalypse, with emphasis on the savage heft. The drums, noticeably (and appropriately) high in the mix, remind me of the whirlwind skinbashing of Hate Eternal. The guitars hit the soaring highs of Behemoth, but maintain a strong balance of jackhammer riffing and buzzsaw cycling. The bass carries the crypt-dwelling ghastliness of bands on the brutal spectrum, like Odious Mortem. And the vocals, the bite of the beast, froth with monstrous yet intelligent malevolence, spitting caustic sedition.
Read MoreReview: Dehumanized – Prophecies Foretold
DEHUMANIZED
Prophecies Foretold (1998)
USA, Pathos Productions, Technical Death Metal
Among the many regional scenes of Death Metal, there exist just as many devotees of any one style. Above all other distinct regional styles, I’m of the steadfast belief that New York Death Metal as a whole has given extreme music its finest hours. Dehumanized’s ‘Prophecies Foretold’ represents everything I’ve ever loved from classic New York Death Metal and then some. This release is 36 minutes of uncompromising, untouchable and criminally under appreciated brutal bliss. Powerful growls, bludgeoning drums and brilliant guitar work with an emphasis on groove and brutality.
Read MoreReview: Reciprocal – Reciprocal
RECIPROCAL
Reciprocal (2009)
USA, Independently Released, Technical Death Metal
Jeff Hughell is the man.
Aside from his legendary bass work on Brain Drill’s full length debut, he’s done incredible live work for both Rings Of Saturn and Vile. Sure, he was talked into joining Chris Barnes’ sacrilegious perpetual joke Six Feet Under (SOMEHOW) but he certainly hasn’t abandoned even an iota of his talent. Reciprocal’s self titled debut album is more than enough proof of that. Admittedly, the other three musicians in this band were of little concern to me when I first heard of this band given how much admiration I have for Jeff and his talent. My dismissal was rather rash when it came to the drummer and guitarist, however my initial impression of the vocalist still stands; cookie-cutter. Jacob Enfinger’s growls sound like a failed attempt at recreating Dennis Röndum’s vocal stylings.
Read MoreReview: The Faceless – Planetary Duality
THE FACELESS
Planetary Duality (2008)
USA, Sumerian Records, Technical Death Metal
This review will differ from my others, since I wrote it at the tender age of 14. I’d otherwise be shocked at my inability to analyze anything or even make myself sound intelligent, but after a chat with Witness to the Void, I thought it’d be worth a few giggles at the very least. Everything beyond this paragraph was all written back when I originally wrote this review for Encyclopaedia Metallum, and it’s actually the first review I’ve ever written for anything.
Read MoreReview: Fleshgod Apocalypse – Agony
FLESHGOD APOCALYPSE
Agony (2011)
Italy, Nuclear Blast, Symphonic Technical Death Metal
I really don’t know where to start with an album like this. The entire release, all 49 minutes and 46 seconds of it, contains enough musicianship to put the average tech-death band out of business. And yet again, I’m completely lost for words trying to write about this.
Compared to Fleshgod’s first 2 releases (The Mafia EP and Oracles), the album experiments with more orchestral elements, this time as a driving melodic force, rather than a semi-gimmick revealed occasionally. For example, Thru Our Scars contains about 2 seconds of poorly played violin, and some falsetto vocals. However, this entire album is powered and directed by a string section, which I think is different to say the least.
Read MoreTDM Staff review: Spawn of Possession – Incurso
SPAWN OF POSSESSION
Incurso (2012)
Sweden, Relapse Records, Technical Death Metal
My God…it’s full of STARS!
I’ve been a fan of Spawn Of Possession’s work since I first stumbled across ‘Swarm Of The Formless’ on Youtube. When ‘Noctambulant’ hit, I realized these geniuses had struck a chord in neo-classical death metal that other bands hadn’t and couldn’t. When ‘Incurso’ was announced, I did as much as possible to avoid hype. I wanted to jump into this latest offering with a clear mind. Fifty two minutes later as I was cleaning up what remained of my jaw and brain, the only certainty I had was of ‘Incurso’s inevitable position in my Top Five Albums Of 2012.
Not only have Spawn Of Possession left their competition in the dust, they’ve utterly obliterated their past material. ‘Incurso’ demonstrates unprecedented technicality, brutality and memorability not only for Spawn Of Possession, but for the entire niche of neo-classical Death Metal. The inclusion of Christian Müenzner is easily one of the greatest matches since combining peanut butter and chocolate. With his virtuosic abilities in the mix, Spawn Of Possession have created an album people will talk about for years to come as a key example of a band seizing their ultimate potential. The only remaining question is, ‘How will they top this?’
10/10 – Goshuggist
Holy Mother of Cthulu, the sleep problems paid off!
Well, having been waiting for this album since January, this has most definitely been worth the wait. So much so in fact, that I’ve actually spent the last two months power napping in the middle of the day, sleeping every chance I can, solely in the hopes of falling into a lucid dream, so that I can imagine more vividly what this album would sound like. Listening to it now, I can see that my efforts in lucidity and following insomnia have paid off. It’s given me something to do, even if it didn’t work.
So anyway, before I start rambling, this album is insane. It’s certainly broken a couple of boundaries in the tech-death Universe. The drums have some jazz influences added in there, but not in the “Hey, look at me, I’m playing jazz! Hey, I said look!” way that Death’s “The Sound of Perseverance” and Pitbulls in the Nursery’s “Lunatic” offer. More in the “Oh hey, you just caught me bomb blasting, there’s some freeform jazz to go with that” sort of way. Luckily however, it doesn’t extend to the subtle extreme of the scale that Wormed’s “Planisphaerium” demonstrates. Aside from the jazz, the drums essentially bring pure tech-death. The guitars, I’m sorry to say, sound a bit too much like Obscura’s latest to really amaze me. I’m sure Christian Münzner could write something a bit more diverse. Given, there are moments of utter awesomeness, but it still stands to me as if he’s ripping off himself, if that makes sense. On other notes, the vocals are perfect, through the madness a standard growl works better than attempting some obscure strain of vocals and coming off as a try-hard. The bass plays just what it needs to, but ought to be a bit louder in the mix. Of course, as a whole this is certainly set to top most other death metal releases this year.
9.5/10 - InexorableRotting
…I was waiting…
Incurso is technical, Spawn of Possession is technical, technical death metal is technical. Chances are if you are reading this review, you know that.
The “t” word just doesn’t describe this album well enough. I spent a few days thinking about tops spinning into black holes and becoming a single atom wide, and finally…a revelation…
Intricate to the infinitesimal.
Every note and every squeal has a quality of “YES, this sound is exactly how this is supposed to be.” Sloppy sludge or grody goregrind has its place, but Incurso sounds more precise than laser eye surgery, in the best imaginable way. Yet the album still sounds fluid and organic – tracks like “Bodiless Sleeper” and “Spiritual Deception” have more atmosphere than a year of slasher films.
Incurso is the main act. When all the technical deathcore warmups pack into their mom’s SUV to get home for curfew, Spawn of Possession takes the stage and shows us how this kind of music is done…and it even gets better as clock ticks along. See album closer “Apparition” for a demonstration on the finest points of the genre of tech..er… uh… mathematical… oh, fine, of TECHNICAL death metal.
9/10 – Witness to the Void
Neoclassical meets SOP death metal!
The end of waiting is here. New era of neoclassical death metal is here. This is one of most comprehensive technical release up to date. No, it’s more than only technical! Every single metal maniac who’s into such music, had very high expectations about „Incurso”. Now I can freely admit – it meets all my requirements to became flawless victory upon my sense of virtuosity!
Music is glowing with abstractness and cosmic materia. Notes density is frightening but has a lot of very atmospheric, progressive breakdowns. They surely has a specialization in „tickling” the listener with bits of melody which transcends into ever flowing rhythm. They’re followed by irregular and most virtuosic soloing available. Same applies to bass section. Most of the time it spreads its wings in the background but Erlend Caspersen often blast his notes into public. It’s like “whoa, that bass has banged my ass!”. What I love about “Incurso” is the specific feeling of controlled chaos which is in fact – most modern and agile form of death metal. The neoclassical feeling is also present (“Spiritual Deception” for example) so for me it’s a new way of enduring sound progression. I dare to name them neoclassical death metal. Spawn Of Possession is like a precise missile which targets all aspects of being technically progressive (I overuse this word, I know). This is pure masterpiece – I couldn’t expect more!
10/10 – Rimmon
AVERAGE RATING: 9,6/10
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- EP’s Mayhem: Antikathera – Sunspot Effigy 05/16/2012
- Technical Tuesday – “Hi, yes, I was interested in Cattle Decapitation?” 05/15/2012
- Review: Cattle Decapitation – The Harvest Floor 05/12/2012
- Review: Saprogenic – The Wet Sound Of Flesh On Concrete 05/07/2012
- Review: Sentenced To Dissection – Between The Worlds 05/07/2012
- Rings Of Saturn: Five Minutes Of New Album? Aliens. 05/07/2012
- Review: Gorod – A Perfect Absolution 05/06/2012
