Initializing Irreversible Process

This review was first published on the Deaf Sparrow Facebook page on 11 October 2016. Written by Stanley Stepanic.

Technical death metal never ceases to amaze me in how stubborn it is about its aesthetic. Aliens, man and machine made as one, tubes everywhere, smoke coming out of everything, lights, factories of the future, Giger-worship temples, it's very easy to pick it out. But if you're going to do it, I guess having Par Olofsson behind the art is a good idea, in fact that's the only reason I even wanted to listen to this.

Italy's Deceptionist, though, have a little more to say than the textbook technical death metal comedy ensemble. As usual, I listened before I really checked out what the band had to say, and then from there I looked around at other critics. They're usually wrong, just so you know, I mean who doesn't at this point, I'm famous or something, but in certain ways other hacks were right about "Initializing Irreversible Process."

Listen, you're clearly going into this not looking for a single atom of anything new in terms of theme. We've seen this all before, it's just the art is better. Humans, machines, blah blah blah loop stack (Assembly Language joke there, I know). So yes, pretty lame in that regard, I don't even know how anyone still has the guts to do it. But where Deceptionist prove you a little wrong is in their playing, in fact that's obviously why Unique Leader Records picked them up, because other than this particular release they only have a demo to their name. Let me be clear, these guys are not man become machine, they are man become riff. That's entirely what you listen to this for, the riffing, and honestly it's absolutely stellar most of the time. Some of the notation played perfectly in tune with the kick drum makes the whole man/machine thing seem less Kraftwerk, more dystopian fiction. Good. These guys fly all over the goddamned place, enough that it survives multiple listens, though it has a tendency to become redundant. Their delivery is typical, as are the vocals, and there's the occasional sample, such as a plane flying overhead, that will give you a second's "ugghhh" pause, but if you're looking for technicality, this will do it, for the time being. I hope a band of this ilk learns to work a different theme some day, I really do, but something about this genre leaves it stuck in what it perceives to be the future, when in actuality it's far in the past.

To the uninitiated, death metal would seem the least likely style for a band seeking after sophistication, but if experience teaches anything, it is that over time trends are bucked and traditions do indeed evolve. The craze with greater technical prowess among outfits on the more brutal end of the spectrum that was originally spearheaded by the likes of Suffocation and Cryptopsy has led to a correspondingly elaborate take on lyrics, as the more primitive of modern outfits have taken to expanding their forensic terminology horizons to include some certifiable mouthfuls in song titles alone, and the technical end of things has seen far more philosophical road being paved alongside the assorted imagery of Sci-Fi and horror. It is on the technical and broad-based messaging side of the spectrum where the recently formed Italian outfit Deceptionist falls, and their debut album Initializing Irreversible Process hits all the bases of a frenzied journey through the dystopian realm of technology turning on its masters.

As far as technical albums with a brutal edge go, this is along the lines of a well-rounded modern answer to the question originally posed back in the first half of the 90s when the style was developed. It bears a good deal in common with Necrophagist and Decrepit Birth, though it takes a somewhat more restrained and measured approach to guitar soloing compared to the former and lacks the quirky progressive twists of the latter. It definitely plays up the Sci-Fi end of things with an assortment of sampled sounds and speeches, including some material from John Carpenter's They Live and The Matrix between the unrelenting soup of speed drumming and traveling riff sets. The songs are generally short to moderate in length, with "When Humans Begin to Be Machines" being the longest yet having no less of a bewildering degree of furious drumming than the shortest song on here.

On any album where technical ability is the chief staple, there needs to be an anchor that holds noodling between instruments together, and here there are actually several. The biggest element of constancy is vocalist Andrea Di Traglia, who possesses a fairly one-dimensional deep end bark that is a dead-ringer for latter day Cannibal Corpse, which provides a nice contrast from the sort of schizophrenic mishmash of harsh voice types that was inspired by Lord Worm. Trailing not too far behind is the lead guitar work, which is surprisingly idiomatic and has a sort of beautiful singing quality to it amid the mess of raging ideas, and adds a little bit of a Scar Symmetry-influenced element of consonant melodic flavor into an otherwise dissonant blend of wandering notes and percussive hits from the rhythm section. The production quality itself is also fairly dense and caters quite well to the occasional ambient samples that are thrown in to up the Sci-Fi feel of things, in contrast to the often wholly percussive quality that goes with an impact-based style.

This is a very solid and engaging listen for an album styled along the lines of something that could be often compared to Chinese food, ergo something that tastes good going down but doesn't stick with the consumer. It has a slightly greater degree of staying power compared to the seminal works of Epitaph and Diminishing Between Worlds, but it generally falls into a similar trap of being so loaded up with chaotic note sets and hyper-paced drum and bass work that its structural nature comes off as illusive. It's definitely something that fans of bands like Arsis and Brain Drill will like, though it definitely comes off as less excessive than the latter of said bands. It's an overall decent listen that doesn't go as overboard on technical showboating, but it could stand to have a greater sense of symmetry and cadence to make it easier to grab hold of so that it is not as mysterious as the real world is to dreaming slave out of The Matrix comics depicted on the cover.

Deceptionist in an Italian tech death band formed fairly recently in 2013. Initializing Irreversible Process is their first full length released via brutal/tech death kingpins Unique Leader Records.

First of all that album artwork is extremely intriguing as well as relevant to the album's lyrical matter; it chronicles a reality in which humans are reduced to mere slaves to their impassive mechanical masters. Such is the music on Initializing Irreversible Process, it lacks that human emotion so to speak, though I firmly believe that is what the band was aiming for. The lyrics take the listener for a journey, however, they aren't particularly well written but get the mind going nonetheless.

The guitars are technical & percussive but tend to get exhaustive & repetitive (especially the rhythm work). The guitarists bust out (usually) brief but awesome solos which provide limited breaks from the mechanical monotony. You can tell that these guys are influenced greatly by the tech death gods, Necrophagist. However, don't expect any sort of melodic riffage or neoclassical styled compositions heard in Epitaph or OoP. Granted that this is much heavier than contemporary melodeath-esque tech death, it doesn't offer much in the way of direct brutality. If anything the overall music gives the vibe of an gigantic industrial machine shifting & operating without halt. The samples utilized work for the most part, often times enhancing the overall sound rather than being an afterthought. Samples aren't really that common in tech death and they are integrated well into the standard instrumentation here. The vocals show some promise at certain instants but still tend to get tiresome more often than not. That bark is decent enough but come on man (!) do something else for once, goddamn it. The drum-work, on the other hand, is top-notch; the controlled blasts, awesome fills, varied tempos are all very befitting. Too bad the the riffs & rhythms over it diminish the excellence displayed.

Deceptionist have put forward an interesting record which aims to meld industrial touches onto a tech death framework. However, it's gets bogged down too often with many tracks feeling as if they are going nowhere. The more interesting moments occur when the samples step in (the weird humming sample in Quest for Identity) and the band experiments outside the tech death boundary (Industivolutionaction, mid-time tempo change in The Confession). Moments like these were oddly satisfying and ultimately proved somewhat memorable.

I really wanted to enjoy this more than I actually did but I still believe the band has potential to improve and refine their sound. While I can dig what they are trying to achieve here, a bit more creativity in the songwriting, less emphasis on repetition & tiresome rhythms can yield much better results in the future. There is fun to be had here for sure. Don't get me wrong, despite the criticisms this is actually pretty decent stuff. However, the contemporary tech death scene is filled with decent & talented bands. Unfortunately, Deceptionist don't get past that decent barrier & into true greatness. Sorry guys.