| Reviews for Exence's Hystrionic |
| Do you miss Death? - 88% |
| Written by Sapspopse
on August 1st, 2009
|
| I sure do. This here is about as close as one can ever get to "Sound of Perseverance/Symbolic" era Death. Technical death metal has definitely evolved since then. I actually like the newer stuff, but every now and again I miss the earlier sounds of the genre and wonder what would have happened if Chuck had not passed away. Would he be into the insanely brutal style that has developed? I'm not sure... What we have here is shredding ultra-fast guitars with a dry, clean production. Excellent drumming and great songwriting. Also some very nice solos. Can't really hear the bass very well but you can't have everything. Even the vocals sounds like Schuldiner - a higher-pitched shriek as opposed to most death vocals these days. Progressive in its songwriting and structure. I suppose a downside would be the fact that the riffs, while good, are not quite as imaginative as the master's when he was still alive - there is sometimes an unimaginative "chugga-chugga" to be found - but overall this is a very good debut. If you are looking for overly brutal death metal - go elsewhere. However, if you enjoyed the beginnings of technical death metal more than where it eventually went (Decrepit Birth, Faceless, Severed Savior), then this is for you. Does this sound like Death? Yes. Is that OK with me? Yes. They even have a tribute to the band on here (now that it is out of the way I hope they stick to original material). Good stuff and I'm interested to see what they do from here. |