When Landscapes Bled Backwards

Sickening Horror's style, particularly on this album, is often compared to Gorguts' "Obscura." This is both accurate and inaccurate; while sonically there's definately an obvious similarity, "When Landscapes Bled Backwards" tends to contain actual songs where "Obscura" preferred to have an open-mike poetry session themed around itself. It comes as little surprise, I'm sure, that I tend to prefer Sickening Horror's catchier, perhaps poppier take on Gorguts' general prog-oriented style. It's definitely not as relevant, influential, or enduring as anything Gorguts made, but it has a refreshing immediacy about it that usually eludes abstract tech death bands like these; in short, while it's not perfect, I would still listen to this a thousand times before Sceptic.

Sickening Horror basically sticks late Gorguts' peculiar styles of instrumental performances into much more conventional, straightforward death metal structures. Just listening to the scratchy, amorphous blurs of guitar that make up the riffs actually get repeated throughout a song is a weird feeling; where Gorguts seemed to use the odd, offputting guitarwork that defined their sound to make songs that sounded endless and omnidirectional, Sickening Horror is using them to make actual riffs- it's an important distinction. Gorguts wrote weird sonic experiences that accidentally sounded like death metal songs, kind of- Sickening Horror does the opposite.

What this actually ends up sounding like a great deal of the time is a more prog-minded take on Nile, and this isn't simply due to the drumming of Kollias. The throaty, rough vocals recall Sanders, and a lot of the more ornate lead guitar or acoustic sections bring the best moments of "In Their Darkened Shrines" to mind as well. Still, while it's easy to start dismissing Sickening Horror's music as only aesthetically odd, it would be denying just what an impact the complete refusal to use "normal" death metal riffs does to the songs. They definitely have a drugged-out, surreal quality to them, like impressionist paintings composed through brushstrokes of arpeggiated, dissonant chords and heavily distorted, winding tremolo melodies. They're not particularly memorable, individually, but they do end up coming together to make an album that sounds like itself more than anything else.

Of course, since these guys are a modern band who are operating off a playbook which, while weird, has mostly already been written, there are errors from time to time. The jazzy elements on tracks like "Virus Detected" sound like a cop out of sorts- it's the sort of thing a mainstream tech death audience would fancy as "progressive" even though it's ultimately meaningless. The album is infrequently but still significantly enough dotted by concessions like these that ultimately damage the purity of vision it's usually so good at portraying. It's really only the minor thematic diversions like these which prevent the album from really entering the upper echelon of modern progressive death metal; delete these moments, and you have something surprisingly remarkable.

It's hard to really pitch these guys as being substantially progressive when they're really just a streamlined version of an idea that's existed for over a decade, but hell, it's hard to deny that they're still one of the only bands out there today doing stuff like this. Sickening Horror isn't going to influence anyone or revolutionize tech death, but they are going to release a handful of really solid, interesting albums that work as a peek at a sort of "what if" dead-end style that probably should have been expanded upon by more people. If all it ends up being is a curiosity, it still has more to it than the usual.

There's a lot of technical ability in the death metal scene these days, but very little in the way of innovation. But just when I start thinking of abandoning the genre, something usually comes along to give me faith again and pull me back into the fold. Sickening Horror are the most recent band to do this for me. I waited years for this album, and I was only slightly disappointed, which is saying a hell of a lot, since my expectations were incredibly high. It's very technical, but they don't fall prey to the trappings that most technical death metal seems to go in for these days (i.e., unrelenting widdly with little thought given to song structure). The band has a great sense of dynamics—slithering, chaotic riffs often give way to haunting melodies and other atmospheric touches. In a way, this music has it all--it's technical but atmospheric, complex but catchy, melodic at times but also very dissonant. The best moments seem to come from the more experimental side of black metal (the band themselves mentions influences like Dodheimsgard), and they pepper their songs with some evil, dissonant melodies that I love. The first track (after the intro) closes with a strange, black metallish melody of pure genius that is all too short. I could listen to it for hours. In fact, my only real complaint is that I wish the songs were longer. A lot of the songs are less than 4 minutes, but they probably could be at least twice that long without sacrificing anything in the way of intensity. Some sections could be repeated or developed a lot more. A small complaint, though. This could turn out to be my favorite death metal release of this decade, unless the band outdoes themselves on their next one.

Death metal is a somewhat tough genre to crack these days. At some point it appears to have turned into a big competition. Bands competing to be the most brutal, desperately creating 30 minute albums of inaudible riffing in A standard and ridiculous phased vocals. At the same time other bands are turning out mindbendingly technical death metal with such incomprehensible riffs and solos that they're nigh on impossible to recreate more than once without serious tendon damage. And then there's those that combine the two. Along the way sadly, they all appear to have lost the ability to write actual songs with atmosphere. Its enough to make you want to stab fanboys in the face with a copy of Scream Bloody Gore. Sickening Horror are another entry in this technical brutality competition. They're particularly fanboy faptastic given the involvement of human drum machine George Kollias.

With these sorts of albums its difficult not to view them as a random collection of riffs and bass licks assembled to a backing track of blast beats. When Landscapes Bled Backwards suffers slightly in this department given that there is generally little coherency and flow through the album due to the stop-start staccato riffing and relentless blasting. However, this is clearly a musicians album, and as expected the drumming is the dogs bollocks. We're treated to whirlwind display of breathtaking riffs and as is the staple for tech-death the bass tends to remain muddied in the mix but is given room to breath on occasion. Vocals on the whole are pretty dull, nothing more than a staple death growl.

Much like Behold... the Arctopus this is either a waste of time or a wondrous wankfest. Even if you love this I challenge you to remember a single riff by the end of it. Bands like Nile, Anata and even Necrophagist can blend technicality, brutality and still craft some memorable songs. Sickening Horror can't. 90% if you masterbate nightly to a picture of Karl Sanders and use a Necrophagist shirt as a wank rag.

Holy. Fucking. Shit.

Thank you Willowtip for licensing this gem this from Neurotic


Readers, what was the last technical death metal album that truly changed how you viewed and listened to technical death metal? A mind altering, genre smearing album that altered the death metal landscape? For me personally, I have to go back as far as Nile’s Amongst the Catacombs of Naphren Ka. Before that, Cryptopsy’s Whisper Supremacy, then before I have to revisit the golden era of death metal with the likes of Atheist’s Unquestionable Presence, Disincarnate’s Dreams of a Carrion Kind and the ridiculously ahead of its time, Obscura.

I mention those four albums, in particular the last four, as I hear a lot of those in this simply stunning debut from Greece’s Sickening Horror (whose drummer is Nile’s George Kollias) and this album I feel will rub shoulders with those aforementioned albums if the pantheons of technical death metal greatness.

Yes, this is that good. Beyond good, beyond superb, beyond great. When Landscapes Bled Backwards is simply awe inspiring on every level, with every note, growl, bass twang and blast.

With the mind fucking complexity of Obscura (particularly “Virus Detected”), the crippling heaviness of Whisper Supremacy (“Embrace the Abstract”) and the polish, precision and song writing chops if Disincarnate’s lone work, Sickening Horror blaze through 12 tracks (one intro and one interlude included) of truly mind bending technical death metal brilliance. From opening intro, the aptly titled “Descending the Minds Abyss” through the closing title track, Sickening Horror simply put virtually all other modern technical death metal to shame. It’s not that it’s more complex or more intricate, its not. It’s just a perfect balance of twisting serpentine expositions of ferocious intricacy, melded with a symbiotic semblance of brutality and intellectual heft and just the right amount of programmed experimentation (“Dark One Surreality”). Throw in some heaving slower, angular yet devastating slower tracks like “A Perfect Disease”, “Filming Our Graves”, which while certainly slower, are no less brain melting and you have an album that will truly change your perception of death metal. And each track is a perfectly timed slice-all hovering around 3-4 minutes, making for an immaculately paced 35 minutes of sonic Armageddon. I’m not going to gush about individual songs as each track on When Landscapes Bled Backwards is utter technical death metal perfection. Throw in an organic, symbiotic production and earthy, deep vocals and you have technical death metal nirvana.

Folks, I’ve made some outlandish claims in my reviewing ‘career”, but even with the some great technical death metal I’ve heard over the last few years from the likes of Anata, Psycroptic, Spawn of Possession, Odious Mortem, Necrophagist, Dim Mak and a slew of others, I’m going to stick my neck out there and say When Landscapes Bled Backwards is a true modern classic that simply devastates every technical death metal album you’ve heard in the last few years.

By Erik Thomas (originally posted at http://www.digitalmetal.com)

"You know what I like to do in my free time? I like to go online and look through obscure record labels and check out their bands. I do this because I've already dug deep into the core of death metal and I constantly crave some new up-and-comers. You normally get a wide range of bands ranging from “absolutely horrific” to “hey, not too shabby!” to “why don't these guys get more recognition?!” Having been around for the better of five years, Sickening Horror has been dwelling deep within the underground of Greece, just waiting to be found and polished like a diamond in the rough, and trust me, you don't find too many of those hanging around these days. Thankfully with this debut album they'll finally break out of playing tiny dive-bars and do better venues and even festivals.

Sickening Horror is labeled as playing technical death metal and they do their trade very well. One of the many things I notice about this band is that it is George Kollias's (Nile, ex-Nightfall, ex-The Circle of Zaphyan) other band, and get this: there were three George's in it! Yes, that's right. You've got George Killias on drums, George Bokos (Nightfall, Obsecration) on guitar, George Antipatis on guitar and vocals, and then you've got the lonely Ilias Daras (The Circle of Zaphyan) on bass. Every member is incredibly important to this album because each one is used so damn well. They certainly do play technical death metal, because I get major instances of bands like Decapitated, Necrophagist and Anata. There's also the sheer brutality factor of bands like Aborted, Panzerchrist and Odious Mortem. These two things are obviously what you need for well done technical death metal, and as I said, Sickening Horror play their trade very well.

As I said, each member is used perfectly and the production on the entire album is one complete masterstroke. No instrument overpowers the other and the vocals are in perfect sync with the music. What you get with this album is an adventure through the barren caves covered in blood in Greece and Sickening Horror are your serial killer tour guides through the book of death metal. It's songs like “An Eerie Aspect Of Us... Drowning”, “Forsaken My Bleeding”, “Filming Our Graves” and “Embrace The Abstract” that make me wish that I can headbang throughout eternity.

My favorite aspect of this album has to be the matter of some very unique aspects on “When Landscapes Bled Backwards” as well. What I mean by that is it sounds very surrealist, complete with interesting sound samples and thought-provoking lyrics. The best examples of this has to be “Filming Our Graves” and “Embrace The Abstract”. Normally in the beginnings and sometimes throughout you'll hear odd noises and sound effects, almost making you feel that you're traveling through time, giving this album heavy In-Quest and even Origin feelings.

If people think of George Kollias in this band and think it's anything similar to Nile then you're all dead wrong. “When Landscapes Bled Backwards” is absolutely nothing like Nile and is a rather original piece of kick-ass technical death metal. The great feeling I get that this is their debut album ensures confidence in me that Sickening Horror will continue to go on and dominate the Greece underground, and surely grace us with more spine-shatteringly heavy releases in the future."

Originally written for Metal Stomp