Band:	Subversion
Album:	Animi
Style:	Djent, Melodic death metal, Symphonic metal
Release date:	March 2015

01. Born Of the Sun
02. Catalyst
03. Imperfect
04. Revelation
05. Illusion Of Eternity
06. Entropy
07. In Order To Live
08. Pariah
09. Novation
10. Animi

In execution, Animi is a style in disarray.

Subversion's delivery is defined by a precise and technical line of djent. Animi is this British band's second attempt at enhancing their palm muted basis with a variety of additional features, none of which ever reach a state of cohesion to produce an engrossing listen. It's a record poorly executed and haphazardly arranged, as it stands as a collation of ideas never realised in unification or delivered evenly around a particularly succinct and penetrative style of riffing which exaggerates its djent basis to a fault. Symphonic and electronic effects are situated around the guitars with little contextualisation and brought in as if in afterthought, such establishing a semblance of atmosphere which is either entirely shattered and overpowered by the djent direction, or abruptly and pointlessly placed as transitional segments where the guitar work recedes to grant greater emphasis to clean vocals that are incompetent at best.

The lack of cohesion is a result of the audible disparity between the instruments; with the bass here largely irrelevant, the guitars, drums and keyboards operate on their own terms and infrequently work effectively in unison. This renders the sound disorganized, and the clarity in production values only further stresses the instrumental inequality as it allows each perceptible instrument, as well as the vocals, such polish in the mix so as to make this blatantly problematic and confronting. A melodic structure is perceptible and somewhat saving, although loosely established in tracks like "Revelation", which would seem to sway the album's direction away from a generic djent fixated sound and obvious lack of cogency, but it merely hints at structural integrity for the record as a whole. Animi is hopelessly disorganised as an attempt to fuse enhancing elements into Subversion's own interpretation of djent, and one unable to create any notable point of originality or distinction despite its aims.

The guitar work rarely develops a significantly memorable riff in its decidedly succinct patterns, and the attempt to structure the record according to a simultaneously melodic and technical framework rarely coincides with any degree of success. Infrequently does the record deviate effectively from its inordinate djent delivery, this aspect being expounded to little accomplishment beyond stylistic identification and falling flat in the face of greater contemporary exponents of the style most recently represented on record by Periphery.

Though Subversion would endeavour to present something new and original in djent, this attempt unfortunately falls apart at the seams.