2025 M&O Music / CD
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Here's another forthcoming M&O Music release. Let’s get my negative criticisms out of the way before I begin to pick this apart.
First, the spoken vocal parts. I didn’t think I’d
hear this return in any real way since so many of the popular 1990s black metal
bands and gothic metal bands did it, but here it is. I still hate it, and
it’s in almost all the songs. Sometimes it’s in significant portions of the
songs, like whole verses. Ugh. Second, this band calls itself “modern” death metal. There’s no
such goddamn thing. You’re either death metal or you aren’t, or like this band,
they blur the line. This band is more along the lines of deathcore, but they lean
far more toward the death metal end of the spectrum, which makes them more listenable for me. However, the songs “Made for Nothing” and “You Know You Have
To” are real clunkers, just not good.
The rest of the stuff on this record I have very little problem
with. There’s a super-heavy At the Gates influence to the vocals, to the point
where I thought the singer even sounds like Tomas Lindberg more than just a
little bit. The singer doesn’t have an easy job, either. He’s spitting vocals
rapid-fire most of the time, using a lot of words at a fast clip, and that shit
is hard to do. I know. I’ve done it. The instrumentation absolutely impeccable,
and these are world-class musicians, for sure. I’d go so far as to say the
guitar playing is virtuosic in some ways. The melodies remind me more of late ‘90s
melodic death metal than anything else.
The building melodies and harmonies toward the end of “Insidious”
are wonderful – until the deathcore style chug-a-lug takes over, however. And I
find that’s mostly the case on this record, where the band will show these glimpses
of amazing death metal, only to cut away to something that doesn’t emphasize
that strength at all. At least the small amount of singing on the record
actually sounds good. For instance, the singing on “Le Deni, Part 2” is highly
atmospheric, almost exactly like something Mikael Akerfeldt would do (not that
Opeth is a death metal band at all, it’s just not offensive to my ears). I
usually don’t like singing infecting death metal records, but in this case I
didn’t mind. It’s the spoken shit that’s gotta go. I did find one gem of a song
- give me more stuff like “Stupid Paradise,” I’ll take a whole record of that
for sure. Easily the best on the album, and it had none of the things I didn’t
like. It really leaned into the melodies (which I feel is their strength), and
built to a strong climax with the aggressive end of the song. Do more of that and
you’ll have my full attention.
I do know that progressive-heads or fans of djent will like probably
like this due to the amazing musicianship on display, but real deathmaniacs like me
will pass on it, like I’m doing, but not without acknowledging these
motherfuckers can play their collective asses off. But in the end, good playing
does not always a good death metal record make. If they shed the deathcore and
the spoken-word stuff and focus strictly on the death metal, even in the
melodic way they do here, they may well turn out something I’d listen to often,
or at least would get more positive marks from this old death metalist. But
otherwise, I remain in the “these guys can play like madmen, but it’s not a
style I want to hear” camp. And throw some solos in there, since it’s obvious
the band is talented enough to do it. Lean on your strengths, and the playing
here is indeed a strength. They would benefit from real melodic heavy metal style solos.
