Extinction

Lemming Project always seemed like an anomaly in the death metal scene. Firstly, they were on Noise Records. This label had released some legendary thrash and traditional metal, but was less visible for death metal. Lemming Project were one of the only pure death metal bands they signed. This gained the band some exposure to anyone browsing Noise catalogues at the time, but it didn't give them much connection to the actual death metal scene. My first encounter with the band was therefore on a thrash compilation which featured the likes of Annihilator, Coroner and Xentrix. Lemming Project were conspicuous at the end of that compilation, being by far the most extreme band on there.

The name of the band probably didn’t do them any favours either. I presume it refers to the common (but inaccurate) myth of lemmings killing themselves en masse, by jumping off cliffs. Perhaps a 'lemming project' means something similar to ‘suicide mission’? Unfortunately for the band, this album's release in 1991 coincided with the arrival of the popular video game (Lemmings). The game gave the word 'lemming' a new meaning in the popular imagination (at least for anyone who played games). The cutesy graphics were the antithesis of the imagery of this dark, serious death metal band. I wouldn’t necessarily say that the release of Lemmings hurt the band's image, but it might have done.

Lemming Project’s music and aesthetic is bleak. This debut album ("Extinction") has an uncanny atmosphere that is distinctive from the usual old school death metal fare. The band don't tend to write those chunky, solid riffs that were the mainstay of death metal. Much of this album is fluid and fuzzy. It builds an unrelenting sense of dread through repetition and experimentation. There are similarities with early Bolt Thrower and Obituary; “Realm of Chaos” mixed with “Slowly We Rot”. This record has the reverb-drenched crusty sound of the former, and some of the sewer nastiness of the latter. There is also some Slayer in here (e.g., the beginning of "Experiments"), and Voivod too (in the odd note choices and occasional dissonance).

This album is best when it veers away from standard death metal structures, towards something more alien. Lemming Project were much better at creating atmosphere than they were at writing memorable riffs. The first song, "Hysteria", is a prime example of the band’s virtues and vices. This is the best song on the album. It is over six minutes long but there is little variation in terms of pace or riffing. Some riffs are repeated over and over as the vocalist yarls around on top, this approach sounds great. The weakest part of the song is the standard death metal breakdown just after the midpoint. The best part is the repetitive, eerie two-note pattern towards the end, which is jarring and terrifying. It feels more like industrial music than death metal in some respects, in atmosphere if not in musical substance.

Similar praise and criticism could be made for the album as a whole. Those repetitive, noisy, abstract moments sound amazing ("Zerfall" is a prime example). The more traditional death metal moments are far less impressive (e.g., "Dust", “Ovens”). In essence, Lemming Project feels like an experiment; some of it works and some of it doesn’t. This record isn’t a masterpiece but it satisfies more often than not. It is also much better than the band's second album (“Hate and Despise”), where they stripped away the noisy parts in favour of a more standard death metal approach. This means that “Extinction” is one of a kind, and recommended for those who like death metal as frightening and as inhuman as possible.

It might seem a moot point in reflection, as they've accumulated quite a bevy of brutes performing all manner of standard extremity by the 21st century, but those Germans were once pretty damned weird at the dawn of their death metal scene. Perhaps not musically, but at least aesthetically. Bands with names like Lemming Project, Archaic Torse, Assorted Heap and Jumpin' Jesus. An album named McGillroy the Housefly. What the fuck? Yes. What the fuck, indeed. Scratch just a little beyond the surface, though, and you will encounter business as usual, a smattering of influences from the usual suspects of the Floridian scene, with the local thrash of heroes Sodom, Destruction and Kreator almost inescapable.

As for the Lemming Project's debut Extinction, I got the impression of their countrymen Atrocity (Hallucinations) with a guitar tone drawn from Sepultura's 1989-1991 efforts Beneath the Remains and Arise. Punchy, rich distortion with just a fleck of grime upon it that lends a dark and gloomy overall aesthetic to the pummeling, low end focus of the guitars. In fact, they've got quite a thrash undercurrent as well. The intro riff to "Dust" might very well seem like a paraphrase from the Brazilians' heyday, or Protector, or Assorted Heap. The vocals are raw, bloodied and ghastly, perhaps a midway between Van Drunen and Karl Willetts, dragging their knuckles in ominous, growls that linger just beyond the beat of the drums; and strangely the most effective in the creepy, ambient guitar intro "Injection" which is honestly the best thing you'll hear on the first 15 minutes of this album...

Once Extinction gets a little deeper, the Germans show a little more musicality and variation in their songwriting, from the pensive malpractice of "Experiments" to the plucky, almost Death like maneuvers of "The Sperm of the New Generation". And it seems to continue improving into the somber, caveman thrash of the bleak historical mirror "Ovens" and ensuing, doom driven outro "Rejections". The CD edition of the debut also includes another pair of tracks in "Out of My Ghetto" and "H" which are quite as resonant as anything found in the core release; the latter having some nice, trailing melodies to the slowy surging barbarian death/thrash rhythms.

In all, a fairly dark trip. 'Grim' death metal, if you will. The lyrics to the album seem almost antithesis to the uncanny, and silly name of the band. Stark, serious and obsessed with the overlap between science, civilization and mortality, with an inherent relevance that has not subsided in the 20 years since this album dropped. Extinction cannot be deemed a complete triumph, as the listener must excavate through a sizable share of dull riffing to get to the good bits (something the band themselves will improve upon with the subsequent and superior Hate and Despise). That aside, it's decent and effectively dark. Fans of earlier German records of this niche: Hallucinations, The Art of Crucifying, Mindwaves, Indicium de Mortuis and Urm the Mad might wanna give this a spin and disappear into its eroded bowels.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com