Despite the heaviness to come, the album actually opens quite slowly. The intro to Shame and its Afterbirth is one of the album's only melancholy moments, with discordant clean guitar melodies setting an eerie tone. Once the song kicks off proper, though, the album's core sound is established immediately. The creepy melodies are retained, though, and they sit atop the flurry of Kilner's kick drums as the song continues to build - before a blast beat gets underway and the song rushes off at break-neck speed. Blast beats and less oppressive double bass drum rolls intertwine nicely as the song progresses - whilst Rasmussen's deep growls sit just above the cacophony created by the band. Given the amount going on instrument-wise, it is a shame, then, that the album's mix is not cleaner. The album can sometimes sound quite mushy at its most chaotic - with the drums punching through clearly but the guitars and bass lacking definition. This is not uncommon for this sort of death metal, though, but it does make it hard to focus on what is going on at times. That being said, though, a lengthy instrumental section later in the song which features plenty of fast-paced soloing from Rasmussen does standout - with some atmospheric depth added by a simple keyboard arrangement. There is a little more definition here, but it would have been nice if more attention had been given to the mix - as even the guttural vocals get lost at times. The Flowers of Sadism opens with a more defined riff and it teases something of an old-school groove before Kilner's double bass drums kick in again and it becomes another pretty pacy number. Compared to the opening song, though, this track is less chaotic. There are still moments which feature blast beats, but overall the riffing feels a bit meatier - and there are moments which do manage to conjure up a bit of a groove despite the mix again not really letting the guitars breathe properly. Unfortunately, it is only really the drums and the guitar solos which ever stand out on this album. Rasmussen's guitar solos are excellent, and a welcome burst of audible technicality, but the riffing often feels suffocated despite the powerful drum sound. Kilner's performance throughout the album is impressive, although I do wish sometimes that he pulled back somewhat to allow the riffing to lead the way. There are moments in this song which could really groove with a different approach, which would have broken up the barrage somewhat. Nursing from the Mother Wound, which features a guitar solo from Steve Jansson (Unrest; Trenchrot; Crypt Sermon; Daeva), returns to the break-neck pace of the opening number - but injects a little black metal influence into the mix and increases the use of keyboards heard earlier. The song has a bit more of an atmospheric depth, then, and there are tremolo picked moments which recall the classic black metal sound. Jansson's guitar solo is busy and similar in style to those heard on the album so far - although some whammy bar tricks help it to stand out. I like the approach with the keyboards taken here and they stand out surprisingly well given the chaotic mix. There is also a bit more of a diverse vocal approach taken, too, with Roethlisberger adding occasional screams alongside Rasmussen's growls.
The Isolating Lie of Learning Another opens more slowly than anything else on the album up to this point (with the exception of the clean intro of the opening cut) and this approach is often retained throughout the song. As such, there are moments here which actually groove quite a bit - which is certainly welcome. Arrangement-wise, the song is much more dynamic, then. There are still plenty of fast-paced sections, again with blast beats, but the pace varies much more significantly here than elsewhere. This allows Rasmussen's chunky riffing to hit harder in my opinion and another varied approach featuring both of the band's founders again helps to diversify things further. Given the more varied pace and the greater emphasis on groove, the track is one of my favourite cuts here. It just feels less oppressive overall and it showcases a more interesting arrangement - which is later emphasised by a much more emotionally-charged guitar solo, which is slower than is typical here. Survival's Careening Inertia is the album's only instrumental piece, but it does help to break up the relentless pace and heaviness found elsewhere. Whilst still pretty heavy in spots, the piece does open quite slowly - with clean guitar melodies and synths setting a more relaxed tone - even if the drumming behind everything is still pretty full on. It is not too long before the song morphs into another death metal track, though, although the lack of vocals does allow the riffing to showcase itself a little more - with synth swells often acting as a counter to the riffing. There is some soloing, too, towards the end, so the song is not all that different from the norm despite the cleaner intro. Weaponized Loss maintains the keyboards which have been utilised throughout and gives them a bigger role here. Whilst not exactly giving the song a symphonic twist, it nevertheless feels more atmospheric than many of the pieces here - but there is still plenty of heaviness throughout, including more blast beats. There are a few black metal influences on display here, too, which is only enhanced by the aforementioned keyboards. Some of the guitar patterns feel a bit more black metal inspired, whilst a stronger emphasis on screamed vocals as a counterpoint also helps. There are some fun old-school death metal moments, too, though towards the end of the song which feel a bit more rock and roll in vibe. This album does not channel such a feel too often, so the song is one of the album's more varied pieces as a result. Floods of Predation returns more to the album's core sound, though, and it generally lacks the variety of the last few pieces. The keyboards do not have as much of an impact here, with the track instead being much more bludgeoning overall - with some of the album's fastest blast beats making a brief impact. As such, the song is likely the most relentless and heaviest thing on the album. There are very few deviations from this relentless approach and it makes the song one of the album's least interesting in my opinion.
Locked in Thine Frothing Wisdom is another track which exhibits some black metal influences. The opening moments of the piece certainly borrow quite a lot from that genre, with screamed vocals taking on more of a prominent role. Rasmussen's growls are also generally not quite as deep here, either. He is a pretty varied vocalist in fairness, but there are times throughout this album when his growls are so deep that they get buried in the mix. This is likely a mixing issue, but his less deep growls tend to rise to the top a bit more - and he sounds powerful throughout this track, contrasting nicely with the screams. Due to this and the black metal influence, the song feels a bit more varied overall - particularly compared to the previous number. There are some pretty strong riffs throughout which rear their heads on occasion - but sadly none of them are ever really capitalised upon. A few groovier moments would have been welcome, but overall the song's variety is still welcome. I Am Every Enemy is not as fast-paced overall and the piece is much more traditional-sounding in a death metal sense - despite a few lingering keyboard strains adding some depth. The drumming is still generally relentless throughout, but the slightly slower pace does allow the riffing to shine through a bit more - and the song feels much more brutal in that typical death metal way rather than the more oppressive, chaotic, and technical approach taken elsewhere. The difference is not monumental, but it does help to shake things up a surprising amount - nodding to the roots of the death metal genre somewhat in the process. The album then comes to a close with He Will Fight Savagely, another fast-paced track with some excellent riffing which is, again, sadly buried by the mix. Production and mixing choices are often a big part of why I struggle with a lot of extreme metal - and I feel that I would like this album a lot more if it had been mixed in a different way. There are lots of great riffs here which are just buried and so hard to make out - whereas if they were the focus there would have been a lot to hook me in. There are death metal albums which sound massive and clear, so a more muddy mix has to be deliberate production choice more often than not, but I do wonder why such a sound is seen as a good thing in extreme metal circles. This song is possibly the one here that suffers the most from this approach. It is the longest piece and it seems to be much more technical than much of the rest of the album - but all of the tricks just get buried in the mush. The vocals really suffer here, too, and it is a real shame that the album closes out with a track which, in my opinion, showcases its flaws the most. Some will like the album the way that it is, and I am aware that this is not an album made for my particular tastes, but, for me, an opportunity has been missed here to really showcase the guitar playing of Rasmussen. Some of the groovier tracks do this, and there are some excellent moments here, but the more relentless songs fall foul of a mix and a production style which seems to favour atmosphere and oppression over musical clarity. There is still plenty to enjoy here, though, for those enjoy things a little more on a chaotic side - but I also struggle with large chunks of the album. It is probably not really for me, in truth, but I am nevertheless glad to have made its acquaintance.
The album was released on 26th January 2024 via Century Media Records. Below is the band's promotional video for The Flowers of Sadism.
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