Emotion is a key element in good death metal. It separates the one dimensional, the average, the horde from the ones with talent, power and the ability to make the listener smile when they realise what they are listening to. The new
Gojira album has that in spades, along with numerous classics like
Morbid Angel’s ‘
Blessed are the Sick’ or Death’s ‘
Human’. But this new wave of death metal, or ‘deathcore’ as it has been labelled, eschews this for a colder, more calculated approach.
Beneath the
Massacre’s ‘Mechanics of Dysfunction’ is a good example of this new breed. Its technicality is astounding; like fellow Canadians
Cryptopsy, the musicianship can barely be faulted for its tightness, its power. The band throw all forms of riffs into the melting pot; stop start blasting, tempo changes, low growls and high arpeggios all come mixed together in a maelstrom of technical death. As a musician’s album, ‘…Dysfunction’ would be hard pushed to be bettered by many technical death/deathcore bands out there. The production is crisp, ice cold and perfection for this form of merciless assault. It is ruthless, emotionless death, handled excellently by the band and should be high on the list for fans of
Ion Dissonance,
Suicide Silence or Job for a Cowboy.
However, therein lies the problem. While
Beneath the
Massacre are clearly adept and skillful musicians, and near the top of the pile when it comes to the genre, it has a tendency to become rather stale and forgettable rather quick. These albums,
Suicide Silence’s ‘
The Cleansing’ and
Ion Dissonance’s ‘
Minus the Herd’ included (even though I own and enjoy both), are albums you can listen to and enjoy, but don’t feel essential. It may be a problem in the future, where the pool becomes over saturated with clones, but currently it’ll prove to be successful and impressive. It would be good to see this current crop of death metal inherit the mantle of such luminaries as Death,
Obituary and
Morbid Angel and take it onwards and upwards.
Recommended for fans of
Suicide Silence,
Ion Dissonance,
All Shall Perish and
Whitechapel.
You must be logged in to add a comment