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Surachai - Heavy Mask review




Bandcamp music player
Reviewer:
3.3

6 users:
4.17
Band: Surachai
Album: Heavy Mask
Release date: July 2015


01. Weeds Through A Shattered Skull I
02. Weeds Through A Shattered Skull II
03. Weeds Through A Shattered Skull III
04. Weeds Through A Shattered Skull IV
05. Visions From A Misplaced Runes I
06. Visions From A Misplaced Runes II
07. Visions From A Misplaced Runes III
08. Visions From A Misplaced Runes IV
09. Curses Sung In A Half Whisper I
10. Curses Sung In A Half Whisper II
11. Curses Sung In A Half Whisper III
12. Curses Sung In A Half Whisper IV
13. The Weight Of Our Last Breath I
14. The Weight Of Our Last Breath II
15. The Weight Of Our Last Breath III
16. The Weight Of Our Last Breath IV

I'm extremely amused to see that Surachai offers a vinyl version of Heavy Mask for sale on his Bandcamp. If your record player ever produces sounds like these, it means that something is seriously wrong and you ought to evacuate your house, because it's about to explode. Your dumb kid spilled orange juice down it, the CIA affixed a bomb to it, or maybe you actually bought this album. Either way, run.

None of these songs? is a song. These are holding patterns, loading screens, transient whispers, and hobo graffiti. These are the sounds of an unpleasant fungal infection. Heavy Mask perfectly captures the sound of standing in a queue waiting to buy a better album. I know that when I review terrible albums I often spend more time throwing out [what I think are] clever analogies to explain how horrendous they are than I do actually describing the music, which perhaps is an unprofessional strategy, but at least in this case the "music" is so one-dimensional and repetitive that I'm obliged to find creative ways to pad out the review. Literally every track on Heavy Mask consists of electronic burps and squelches over a drum track. One or two sound-units even forget to bring the drum track.

All right, so this is clearly some kind of ambient/noise project. Fine. Give me credit; I can roll with that. Noise and experimental forms of music are not unknown to me. That would be fine, except there is barely any noise in this noise. All I hear is a test drum pattern and a single, thoroughly-unrelated line of electronic tones muddling through a formless void for a minute-and-a-half until the whole thing collapses under its own nonexistent weight. Maybe, given time, one or two of these creatures could develop into something appreciable for its aesthetic and atmospheric values, if not (ever) for its thoughtfulness or true musical nature, but they all vanish within a matter of seconds. 18 tracks, nearly all under two minutes, and none of them going anywhere even remotely different from the previous one - what the hell is the point?

I also found this album while looking for grindcore, so you can imagine my disappointment when instead of hideous shouting over fractured punk riffs I got this random assortment of broken amplifier sounds that makes me wonder if I should try turning the album off and on again to fix it. I don't know what to make of Heavy Mask, only that I should make a hasty retreat from it. It isn't grindcore, it certainly isn't metal, and it barely constitutes music.


Rating breakdown
Performance: 2
Songwriting: 2
Originality: 6
Production: 4





Written on 23.12.2015 by I'm the reviewer, and that means my opinion is correct.


Comments

Comments: 14   Visited by: 228 users
23.12.2015 - 09:48
Overrwatcher

Another ScreamingSteelUS review of a shitty album?

Christmas just came two days early.
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Overr's List Of Worthwhile Deathcore Albums

Written by Dr. Strawberry on 12.06.2016 at 19:43

Overwatcher, MS Xena, crumbled him in no time. MS needs you to kill the boredom in here.
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23.12.2015 - 14:32
!J.O.O.E.!
Account deleted
I remember when Surachai made awesome black metal.
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23.12.2015 - 14:49
Auntie Sahar
Drone Empress
Nothing wrong with noisey ambient music, but this album is certainly at the far weaker end of that genre's spectrum
----
I am the Magician and the Exorcist. I am the axle of the wheel, and the cube in the circle. “Come unto me” is a foolish word: for it is I that go.

~ II. VII
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23.12.2015 - 15:25
Karlabos
Meat and Potatos
You are the one who just don't get it.
This album has a natural flow, a narrative-like structure, and great pacing, it's a weight In Minimalism.
Every layer added seemed to take away from its initial severity and grit, and wash away the detail of the foundation tracks, that's why the musician eventually surrendered to its simplicity and worked with maximizing the details. As a result of its simplicity, it's been called a grower. It doesn't need to be metal or grnindcore to constitute music.

Just kidding... This album sucks. And I got those words from somewhere on the internet.
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"Aah! The cat turned into a cat!"
- Reimu Hakurei
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23.12.2015 - 18:23
Rating: 7
ScreamingSteelUS
Editor-in-Chief
Written by Karlabos on 23.12.2015 at 15:25

You are the one who just don't get it.
This album has a natural flow, a narrative-like structure, and great pacing, it's a weight In Minimalism.
Every layer added seemed to take away from its initial severity and grit, and wash away the detail of the foundation tracks, that's why the musician eventually surrendered to its simplicity and worked with maximizing the details. As a result of its simplicity, it's been called a grower. It doesn't need to be metal or grnindcore to constitute music.

Just kidding... This album sucks. And I got those words from somewhere on the internet.

You know, you had me for a second.

Written by Overrwatcher on 23.12.2015 at 09:48

Another ScreamingSteelUS review of a shitty album?

Christmas just came two days early.

Your words honor my people.
----
"Earth is small and I hate it" - Lum Invader

I'm the Agent of Steel.
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23.12.2015 - 19:14
Alex F
Slick Dick Rick
What the hell happened to Surachai. Love the review, pretty much sums up why i couldn't finish the album
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23.12.2015 - 19:19
Lit.
Account deleted
Written by Guest on 23.12.2015 at 14:32

I remember when Surachai made awesome black metal.

When was that? I sure as hell don't.
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23.12.2015 - 19:22
!J.O.O.E.!
Account deleted
Written by Guest on 23.12.2015 at 19:19

When was that? I sure as hell don't.

I like how you used a rhetorical question to highlight a sarcastic dislike of their black metal albums. It was very internet of you.
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23.12.2015 - 19:26
Lit.
Account deleted
Written by Guest on 23.12.2015 at 19:22

I like how you used a rhetorical question to highlight a sarcastic dislike of their black metal albums. It was very internet of you.

When in Rome...
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24.12.2015 - 00:11
SoUnDs LiKe PoP

"Visions from a misplaced runes"

Jesus, I can never understand how bands don't even run their song titles by at least ONE native English speaker to ensure that they make grammatical sense.
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I lift weights and listen to metal
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24.12.2015 - 15:41
Marcel Hubregtse
Grumpy Old Fuck
Written by SoUnDs LiKe PoP on 24.12.2015 at 00:11

... by at least ONE native English speaker to ensure that they make grammatical sense.



Doesn't guarantee rammatical mistakes not being made.
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Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal

Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight
Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.)
05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996

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25.12.2015 - 04:36
ruffio

I think a 3.3 is a bit too high, really. Even a 2 may be overly generous.
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24.10.2020 - 15:08
RaduP
CertifiedHipster
Never listened to it, but wonder if your thoughts on it changed in the 5 years
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Do you think if the heart keeps on shrinking
One day there will be no heart at all?
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25.10.2020 - 05:59
Rating: 7
ScreamingSteelUS
Editor-in-Chief
Written by RaduP on 24.10.2020 at 15:08

Never listened to it, but wonder if your thoughts on it changed in the 5 years

Actually, I just listened to it again and I rather enjoyed it. I have a little more context and patience for it, I suppose.
----
"Earth is small and I hate it" - Lum Invader

I'm the Agent of Steel.
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