Pathology - Awaken To The Suffering review
| Band: | Pathology |
| Album: | Awaken To The Suffering |
| Style: | Brutal death metal |
| Release date: | September 13, 2011 |
| Guest review by: | Tristus Scriptor |
01. Dissected By Righteousness
02. Ingestion Of Creation
03. Hostility Towards Conformity
04. Media Consumption
05. Society's Desolation
06. Prolonging The Suffering
07. A Perverse Existence
08. Humanity's Cesspool
09. Festering In Filth
10. Opposing Globalization
11. Emesis
12. Revocation Of Earth
I'd just like to state that this is a fun little death metal release. Let it be known that so-called metalheads' descriptive abilities have forsaken simply giving details, breaking down song formulas, and giving educated or reinforced opinions about a release; opting for profusely listing controversial and competitive sub-sub-sub-genre aspects.
Had this release appeared in, say, 2000 or so, it would've been given a fair comparison to Disgorge, been praised or damned for the slightly less intricate structuring (as with the more sociopathic lyrics than one would expect), and been justly rated for what it is. But this is 2012, and coming up with all kinds of ways to clique-up, clutter-up, and just plain confuse the reader/listener with hogwashy nitpicking is the way. But I don't wanna. So, there.
As mentioned earlier, fans of Disgorge will appreciate the vocals, since they are completely indecipherable, vomitous, and sometimes even rhythmless. New vocalist Jonathan Huber opts for that "as long as I'm on top of the music somewhere, varying from low to lower, I'm good"-style that Matti Way is so known for, yet sometimes even laughably more so. Rhythm is there, it's just not so easy to find. It's sick as hell, so we'll all just have to forgive the ridiculousness of this performance. I happen to love it. I just don't let myself put this on if I'm in the mood for Fates Warning.
The music itself happens to be a nice steaming bowl of well-structured 90s death metal with tasty emphasis on groove, the latter aspect undoubtedly landing them in an undeserved pile of pre-condemned slam-death releases. Take my advice, however, and do not mistake this release for the slews of three-chord, blast-chug-blast-chug, swine worshiping newbies that litter the scene after a mere four band rehearsals. Pathology has had time to build chops, talent, and a good bit of catchiness, even while keeping the redundancy to a minimum... well, except for the vocals. You gotta give it to the guy, though. Huber did choose the opposite of "sellout" by joining this camp, as I do believe that I Declare War might have been a meatier meal ticket.
All in all, it's just nice to have a good time listening to a new extreme metal release with an agreeable production, adequate musicianship, cool artwork, and sick vocals. That's what I wanted when I got into the genre, and sometimes that's still all I want.
Rating breakdown
| Performance: | 9 |
| Songwriting: | 8 |
| Originality: | 7 |
| Production: | 9 |
Written by Tristus Scriptor | 18.03.2012
Guest review disclaimer:
This is a guest review, which means it does not necessarily represent the point of view of the MS Staff.
This is a guest review, which means it does not necessarily represent the point of view of the MS Staff.
Comments
| Tristus Scriptor Rancid Reviewer Posts: 293  |
I'm truly glad that someone shares my frustration. I'm not gonna watch a bunch of losers that are lost in Sceneland turn me off of good stuff. I'm brave enough to give credit where it's due.
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| Troy Killjoy perfunctionist Staff Posts: 21306  |
You open with talking about not going to talk about genre aspects, then you spend a large portion of the review talking about genre aspects. Not that I disagree with the score (personally gave this a 7.3). It just seems kind of hypocritical.
---- "Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something."
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| Coconut Racecar Posts: 388  |
Written by Tristus Scriptor on 18.03.2012 at 09:06 amen.
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| Tristus Scriptor Rancid Reviewer Posts: 293 |
Written by Troy Killjoy on 18.03.2012 at 15:18 It seems that you fail to understand my simplification process. I was not gonna say, "This is Brutal, Slam-Death/Goregrind/Pigcore/Blast-sludge/Zombie/Apocalypse metal", like some people way too often do.....my whole point was to break it down at least where either veterans or newcomers could get an idea. I call it DEATH METAL. I said it has an emphasis on groove, which isn't making up a new bullshit genre to confuse the reader, but describing a performance aspect. I gave a simple band comparison (Disgorge). I also describe the vocals. I said an aspect would "land them in an undeserved pile of PRE-CONDEMNED slam-death releases" , then advise against settling there. This is a review. Would you have rather me say "It's good. It's metal." and leave it at a four word review, just because I showed a bit of condemnation for over-analysis? Anyway, the whole point is that I wasn't going to drown it in nonsense. And I didn't. Thanks for the feedback, though. \m/
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