Band:	Mass Hypnosis
Album:	Sanctimonious
Style:	Industrial metal
Release date:	October 20, 2014
A review by:	Ilham

01. Psychoacustica
02. God Complex
03. Matrix Of Power
04. Address To The Nation
05. Trigger Terms
06. Inevitable Disaster
07. Message From The Advanced Intelligence
08. Refugees From The Promised Land
09. The Sting Of Consequence
10. Monotheist
11. Social Experiment
12. United State Of Coma
13. Codex Alimentarius
14. Novus Ordo Seclorum

People refuse to see the signs. People are blind to their doings, and we are laughed at when we try to warn you. The Illuminati are amongst us. WAKE UP! SHEEPLE!


What is it with industrial bands and their uncontrollable need to "educate" us? Don't get me wrong, I admire political engagement and content-heavy music. I grew up in a country directly involved in the tragic events and the warmongering of the beginning of this millennium, which Sanctimonious tries to draw attention to. Nevertheless, when you're a band whose logo is derived from the Illuminati symbol, and whose message is supported by caricatural music, you can't expect to be taken very seriously. Unfortunately caricatural doesn't always mean entertaining. Indeed, Mass Hypnosis say they play groove industrial metal, but I personally don't hear much groove in it, be it "groove" as in the actual genre or as in the quality you could attribute to a piece of catchy music.

Still, let's be fair to Mass Hypnosis for a second. Taking death metal and twisting its neck to make it follow a colder, more electronic approach, the Croatians achieved making their sound both industrial and brutal (enough). Without ever being memorable or ground-breaking, some riffs here and there are plenty enjoyable. Down-tuned and distorted guitars, blast-beats, a couple breakdowns, a few wubwubwubs, and some beepbeepbeeps here and there make the majority of the devices used by Mass Hypnosis to keep their listeners amused. Affixing very low guttural vocals on an instrumentation I find a little weak was the best thing to do, and balancing them with high-pitched screeches was even more intelligent. The final result makes me think of a Fear Factory meets Ministry collaboration, but stripped of the oomph and originality each of those bands displayed at least once in their careers.

It is always honourable to pay tribute to the bands that influenced you, but in no way is it tolerable to push the worship to the point you end up parodying the genre more than anything else. Indeed, Sanctimonious sounds more like a collection of samples taken from various American presidents' speeches with bits of music in between, rather than a well thought-out and structured full-length album. Not only do they use the same type of samples whom bands like KMFDM already used and overused, but I actually recognize the exact same bits. Yes. Including that one you're thinking of right now: the "New World Order" speech by George H. Bush, as well as that other one by Robert Oppenheimer quoting the Bhagavad Gita: "Now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds". I was very disappointed not to hear an excerpt of the "Axis Of Evil" speech by W. Bush, because then we'd have had the holy trinity of samples, the epitome of anti-American and alter-mondialist stereotypes. Obviously used as filler, the interludes and samples are too present in the forty minutes of Sanctimonious. When the release is not that dense, it doesn't need so many pauses and distractions, as it chops down the whole thing in little bits instead of creating a logical, natural flow that bonds the whole structure.

From the little I have heard of it, Mass Hypnosis used to play a deathcore-inspired kind of melodic death metal. I wouldn't be so arrogant as to ask them to go back to that sound, but I'd rather advise they drop the political pretext for a while and first focus on writing an actual industrial metal album. Then you can strap the anti-capitalism back onto it - without the plethora of samples. Or just start a blog.

If you're still interested, listen to Sanctimonious here. Wait! It's dangerous out there, don't forget your tinfoil hat.