lista zespołów Progressive Death Soulrest (UKR) Pathological Processes

Soulrest “Pathological Processes” (1997)
I spent a lot of time trying to find the right setting and mood to listen to this tape and do a review, so I’d better beg the band to forgive me for such a wild delay and do my job.

The artwork of the tape is quite good — everything is accurate, modest and classy at the same time. The first thing that comes to mind is the excellent quality of the recording, which allows you to hear every instrument in the mix. Speaking of the music itself, I think it’s best to define its style with the following question: what if Pestilence hadn’t headed to extreme fusion after their third full-length, and decided instead to pursue Swedish melodic death? What if they increased the amount of keyboards, and showed somewhat of an affinity for Atheist and The Dillinger Escape Plan? You need not wonder, because the result would’ve been very much like “Pathological Processes”. As is obvious to you by now, the music of Soulrest is based on a form of technical death-thrash that is in the vein of the first two or three Pestilence albums, and it’s more mid-tempo than fast. The second ingredient is found in melodic (but not “sweety-snotty”!) guitar passages that somewhat resemble Swedish melodic death a-la Dissection, with some rhythmically and melodically weird parts resembling Gorguts and aforementioned Atheist and The Dillinger Escape Plan. Thirdly, there are those wonderful keyboard parts! This may seem strange to you, but every nail can be hit right on the head with just one phrase — “one can’t detract anything and can’t add anything”. Everything’s so professional, crisp, and neat that you can often find yourself holding a breath. The music is quite diverse, but it never travels beyond its stylistic borders. All musicians are obviously expert players. The keyboard parts are never out of place and are played very accurately. One of the last songs incorporates a rather memorable organ part. As a rule, the keyboards are playing an accompanying (rather than leading) role. The guitars have a juicy (but not fat) sound, their parts consisting of thrash and death metal riffs alternating with melodic “Swedish” parts and neat solos that are a pleasure to hear. The rhythm-section doesn’t stand behind and demonstrates gorgeous and technical drum patterns to the listener. Double-bass parts are present in the correct amount. The vocals consist of powerful high-end screams (sometimes with the addition of strange vocal processing, which starts with the second song). To be honest, the vocals play less of a role on the second part of the album, but that’s not dreadful. Speaking of the song structures, the guys from Soulrest can compose music just as well as they play it, i.e., satisfaction is guaranteed. The music of Soulrest is so elegant, beautiful, neat and at the same time cool-headed and sober that it doesn’t arouse any strong emotions right from the start. But as you come towards the end of the tape, you think to yourself: “damn, this is simply great!” more and more often. After you’ve finished listening, you end up in a good, bright mood for the rest of the day; you want to enjoy life and have fun. When you hear the word “Soulrest”, it arouses only positive things in your mind.

Summing up the results of this small review, I’d like to say the following: if this album is issued on CD someday, my friend and I (we listened to this tape together) will be the first to buy it. Soulrest are not simply head and shoulders above similar bands from ex-USSR, they’re head and shoulders above almost every other band playing in a similar style in the international extreme music scene. I strongly urge you to visit the band’s website and listen to their great music, which will be liked by absolutely everyone, well, maybe except for grim doomsters, die-hard true-blackers, and bigtime extreme-heads who don’t listen to anything less heavy than Cripple Bastards and Arsedestroyer. The rest will love Soulrest — this is what modern melodic death-thrash should sound like!