I'm really no expert on bands which like to fuse the punkish, raw attitude of crust with crushing death metal stylings, but if there's a good band in sight, I'l take it. I heard some praising the new Acephalic record, and some appraising it, so at first I really didn't know what to do. Some crusty d-beat OSDM sounded tasty, so ı decided to take the album. I don't what happened but somehow, the magic feeling that I thought would happen did not occur, and I suddenly found myself amid a chaotic storm of pulverizing hammers flying at me at full speed, from all directions. This may sound very attractive at first, but over time the album introduces irritating features of its own that causes the listener gradually put down the album in an orgy of confusion and disinterest, and I felt like during my listen. Now, allow me to give some more detail:
The first crusty barrage of tremolo madness ''Bastard Self'' was a lethal dose of the d-beat driven death metal sound that the album displays on many sections, and since it was my first listen, I found it to be quite fresh, dynamic and very heavy, with shrewd usage of the double-bass drums and a little longevity. As the other songs passed and swaggered before me, I slowly lost my interest. I don't why this happened, but I was probably not satisfied with the overall purity and crustiness of the death metal riffs, just as much as I wasn't content with the amount of OSDM riffage used. Don't get me wrong, there are come really juicy and face-bending tremolo bursts with downright crushing mid-pace stompers, but even so, I found the guitar tone to be much too rich and full as if it's a stuffed turkey ready to explode, and the riffs in general are extremely futile when it comes to being spicy and high quality. They're simple, robotic stomps for the most part, and I believe it's the ridiculously heavy tone and numbing effect of the riffs that drives fans crazy, and all I can say is that it's definitely no way to earn more respect. Not only that, but the riffs are also so simple, and derivative that...well many won't even notice that since the hefty tone wraps the riffs up like a fuzzy rug, but they're just boring, plain and systematic incursions with no feeling, and you may think that the Autopsy-esque doom riffs and Bolt Thrower grooves may garnish the quality, but they just make it worse.
The vocals might have been another agitating feature for some, and I am one those. The vocal style of ''Dan'' is just indecipherable, and I can't seem to see what difference they have when compared to the vocals used in a random brutal death metal band. And I detest brutal death metal growls. When compared to other examples, ''Deathless Master'' is still far from the worst and it still has some energy inside it, and the only reason disliked this album is that Acephalix were not able to expose that energy using the right way, and as a result, we got this. True, energy and diversity is not the only thing that puts some flaws on the album, there are exasperating elements found in quite an abundance and those could only be fully replenished in time, and no doubt when the band decides to work harder on the complexity of the riffs. Most of ''Deathless Masters'' hooks missed my vital organs, and the album failed to pull me into the same monstrously entertaining vortex as it pulled several others, but let's be patient and let us pray for all hope is not lost for Acephalix.
Highlights:
Raw Life
The Hunger
Rating: 68,5%
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