Psychogenocide

I find myself at odds with “Psychogenocide.” Nervecell, a death metal progeny squeezed out of Dubai’s sandy womb, does the few tricks the bulk of death metal bands with a technical edge do without much ardor. They remind me of a Nile offshoot with some more complex moments not unlike Beyond Creation or Necrophagist thrown in the loop for good measure. It’s solid stuff for what it tries to be; one could plausibly argue Nervecell emulates this brand of death metal quite well, I suppose. There is a bit of a tether here holding the group back from matching the content of their influences and top-level cohorts, however. All I can do, after hearing “Psychogenocide” many times, is give a big ol’ shrug.

Most of this is listenable, at least in a rudimentary sense. ABCs of death metal aside, “Psychogenocide” is way too standard. Nervecell’s one routine boils down to stone rubbing the ancient rocks left by Nile, Deicide, Cannibal Corpse, etc., and sprinkling some technical bits over the whole thing lightly. While they certainly do a fine job retching up death metal procedures that are tolerable, ideas that would otherwise bring the album beyond a listenable state are nonexistent. In fact, the best moments here show Nervecell pretty much ripping off better bands: the main sequence on “All Eyes on Them” borrows heavily from Cannibal Corpse’s “Edible Autopsy,” and the Nile worship stands out like Min’s titanic boner.

They manage to occasionally shake loose of their unwavering monotony and rouse this thing up a bit. The title track and “Shunq (To the Despaired...King of Darkness)” have some nice riffs upon which they are built, with intricate guitar solos weaving assertively between the usual death metal hammering. “The Taste of Betrayal” is an atmospheric instrumental which finds a balance between Middle Eastern themes and Nervecell’s metallic bite, by which the growing fatigue is forestalled by exploring an unforeseen pipeline of the group’s creativity. Karl Sanders actually contributes vocals to “Shunq (To the Despaired...King of Darkness),” although his guttural rumbles are almost identical to the constant monotone gurgling of Nervecell’s growler. It sort of ruins the point of having a guest vocalist—Karl Sanders, no less—if he’s just going to be another uninteresting piece to a humdrum puzzle.

But if I’m going to be honest, nothing here is abhorrent enough to make my spleen shoot out of my urethra. Nervecell’s fundamentals are sound, and flow tightly through the album’s several masks. The lead guitar work is well done, although the riffs over which they are placed just do the part of providing normal, expected death metal sequences. “Psychogenocide” impresses on the outside, what with its complex moments and the absolute elasticity within the band, but fails to shake free of its underwhelming chains. It sounds like most, feels like most, blends in with the shoddy backdrop of run-of-the-mill, insignificant death metal records.

This review was written for: www.Thrashpit.com

Nervecell is a death metal band operating out of the United Arab Emirates, although their members are from Jordan, Lebanon, and India. That's reason enough to be interested in their sophomore release, Psychogenocide, even if I didn't already like their debut Preaching Venom.

Nervecell play what is decidedly modern death metal. It's somewhat (but not excessively) technical death metal that's brutal enough and is cleanly produced, with a great production that allows you to hear every instrument. The vocals are in a great death growling style, similar to Necrophagist.

Actually, they sound a lot like Necrophagist if you toned down the technicality. In other places, especially when they incorporate Middle Eastern influences, they start to sound a little like Nile, e.g. "شنق – Shunq (To the Despaired…King of Darkness)" or the folk intro. Some of the songs are fairly memorable, too, like "Upon an Epidemic Scheme", the title track, or closer "Nation's Plague".

But all in all, they don't bring anything new to the formula, and the songs aren't so great that they set themselves apart from the pack. It's just good death metal, not great death metal.

The Verdict: This one's going in the bin right next to Abysmal Dawn. If you love that band, chances are you'll love this. And it's certainly a good album, so if you want it just to stick a pin in the UAE for your metal world map, it's worth it. But on its own merit, it just doesn't stand out from the crowd.

originally written for http://fullmetalattorney.blogspot.com/