Default

Edema was born as Bleeding Tide, a death metal band who hailed from Turin, a town located in northern Italy. During the course of time they changed their name to Edema. 'Default.' is the band's debut full length album.

Majority of Edema's music consists of polyrhythms, open-stringed guitars and blunt riffage. Yeah, it is that monster called "nu" dwelling in this album. Non-distorted, funky/jazzy parts with clean vocals just affirm that. Okay, it's pretty groovy through and through, and the drummer's playing is good. On the other hand there's not much melody to cling to. 'Generator, which originally appeared on the band's demo, has some death metal in it remnants, and these bits do appear later on, too. Mainly the vocals are growled, so they fall into death metal genre too. To tell the truth, the songs are too different to each other, so I think maybe both, NUckers and metallers, will avoid Edema. If you can imagine music, where the likes of Morgoth ('Odium' era [1993]), Pantera and Mudvayne collide, well, there's Edema. I should also mention the music's neurotic feel. The lyrics are about the shittiest English ever, dictionary- and grammar-wise, but that's not much of a problem, as the vocals are that rough you really can't make out words anyways. Soundwise this is organic, but it could have much more of low frequencies.

I can recommend those who love rhythmic heavier music to check out Edema. I was sure I would bash this fucker, but 'Default.' doesn't sound shitty at all, so nu-elements should not be your excuse not to try this, if rhythmic stuff is your choice.

(Originally written for ArchaicMetallurgy.com in 2009)

Default is Edema's debut full length. Expect a lot of technical death metal here, but done in a sense that it doesn't try to see how many tempo changes can fit in five seconds to give audiences a headache. This isn't math music... just good death metal. Default is full of crunching chords and different breakdowns with a musical structure about as schizophrenic as a Deathspell Omega album (the more recent ones at least). There's always a very quiet moment in each track where the guitars try this creepy, progressive line where the bass is quite audible and builds to a crescendo before the chords and growled come roaring back into the picture. The drumming is simple, technical rhythmic tapping that Dying Fetus fans will probably dig quite a bit. It isn't anything amazing, but the simplicity of the style suits the pace of the album. After all, Default is meant to a smooth ride with just a few bumps.

That being said, the music is still brutal. Tracks like "Generator" have some very fast drumming and ripping hooks that make the breather where everything goes quiet, save for the guitars, all the more appreciated. Other tracks like "Purchasing Your Own Illness" are heavier with no progressive moments and just a good, mid paced death metal-fashion beat down. "My Sweetest Whore" is one of the fastest tracks on the album, turning things up a notch with the buzz saw tempos mixed with a few blinding solos as compared to how the music usually chugs along in unison on the other tracks. Vocally, the standard, deathcore growl is the staple presence, but there are a few moments during the progressive stringings that some spoken, quietly sung vocals come along, enhancing the eerie quiet.

There is one problem with Default, though. A lot of the tempo changes, quiet moments, and musical style of the album are all in the same place. On about seventy percent of the album, if one is to fast forward to the last 3/4 of the song, you will here the quiet moments, and then almost the exact same lead-in to the heavier stuff. This somewhat ruins the whole 'technical' idea that Edema tries to create by making the album monotonous. In fact, the group probably could have just melded all the tracks into one long medley; THAT would have been very interesting. Unfortunately, they opt to create something that is interesting at first, but can eventually become stale. "Crawling Unreason" and "Purchasing Your Own Illness" try to mix things up with the song structure by changing the typical music placements, or adding samples before the songs, but even then the chord progressions and limited riffs continue to maintain the monotony. It just doesn't engage the listener as much as some would like.

That being said, for those who enjoy mid paced technical deathcore metal in the vein of Moltov Solution, As Your Down, and Oceano will find Edema right at home in their earhole. The music is well performed; it just needs a little more variation to keep listeners interested before the music ADD kicks in. Keep rocking!

Originally written for http://www.brutalism.com