Stench of Centuries

These guys were from France and play death metal, possibly brutal death metal as well. That would suitable to suggest, but whatever. I don't don't care. I just want to get through this one as briefly as possible. And no, this album doesn't deserve a fucking "forty-percent" rating. It's a little better than that. Let's be real here, this shit is considerably decent, finished and released in the early 2000's. I this album holds up well, for death metal being on its deathbed, possibly dead at this point. But hey, you judge it for yourselves. Death metal wasn't nearly as "exciting" anymore at this point.

The production is fairly good, clean and polished. Though, the guitars are a little repetitive and annoying, but it's filled with lots, lots and again, lots of groove. I dare say this band uses more groove than actual-groove metal bands. But you got to admit, it has its "fancy" elements. But more in a "technical" sense. This could have even been classified as "technical death metal", because of the chords, riffs and breakdowns. You know, the "hard" shit. The bass isn't mixed well into the album, it's almost obscured Which is a shame, really. The drums are constantly slamming, but every element of the drums are being used to show in-depth verity of the playing style. So, that's a little exciting. The vocals remind me of a foreign "Morta Skuld" vocalist. Really low, heavy and distorted voice that comes naturally.

I don't really want to dig much deeper into this album, it does deserve "some" attention. And it is pretty good, honestly...but don't give this anymore attention than it really needs. This album is also a bit debatable in its own right, I suppose, huh? But come on, it's not at-all terrible. They're just better death metal-related albums out there, released within this period. So, what more could you want? You have a class "B" album here, from the early 2000's. That no-one even knows about. It would be worth buying if you like death metal in it's more..."modern" format, with a lot of groove, technique and progressiveness. Just know this though, being able to find this on CD would probably be nearly-impossible. Good thing for YouTube sometimes. The album cover made me feel "attracted" to this release. It seems so...'90's-like, you know? Dark, brutal and just twisted like Hell itself. Seems a "bit" Slayer-influenced for the design of the artwork. That's all.

In retrospect, I may have been a little over zealous in my comments about Act of Gods 2003 four track ep ‘Dies Irae’. Maybe my penchant for blasting death metal has changed over the past year, I’m not sure, but I know I was expecting a little more than what has been achieved on the bands new full length ‘Stench of Centuries’.

Act of Gods (who feature two members from French deathsters ‘Mutilated’) were signed to the Osmose stable of the strength of their ‘DI’ demo and from what I heard on that short, but furious 12 minute disc, they threatened to step another cog and deliver a death metal monster with ‘SOC’. Unfortunately, this doesn’t appear to be the case. Not to these ears anyway. There is no questioning of AOG ability to pen straight ahead, old school death metal - this is as enraged and blasting as anything they put forth on the EP, yet it is strangely devoid of anything exciting or musically challenging.

The problem with Act of Gods and more specifically their songwriting is their utter lack of variation. SOC is an 11-track affair (12 if you get the vinyl) and clocks in at the 50-minute mark. Now, with a musical style that limits itself to guttural dog vomit vocals and an incessant reliance on blast beats ad nausem, SOC is extremely testing on the patience. Even the most dedicated brutal DM fan would be a stretch to sit through this. The old school Morbid Angel meets Deicide vibe is commendable and all, but there is simply nothing here that distinguishes each track from the next. Drop the needle (or laser) anywhere on this disc and try to name a track. You can’t do it. Act of Gods can play like bastards, but when it comes to writing a memorable riff or altering their style just a tad, they are simply bereft of ideas.

The production of ‘SOC’ is probably one of its saving graces. Stephane Buriez (of LOUDBLAST) has permitted AOG to forge a raw old school style production that allows their ferocity shine through (as much as it can anyway). The guitar sound could be a little cleaner and powerful in the mix, but overall it probably suits what they were trying to achieve here.

Act of Gods are for seriously deranged underground Death Metal fanatics that have nothing better to do with their time than to listen to 50 minutes of blast beats without variation or ideas. If that’s you, then this is probably your album of the year. For the rest of us who want variation and song writing smarts in their Death Metal, this must be avoided at all costs.