Yyrkoon - Unhealthy Opera - review

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Yyrkoon - Unhealthy Opera - review

Cover image of the reviewed item
Band
Yyrkoon
Album
Unhealthy Opera
Style
Death metal
Release date
February 20, 2006
Reviewer
8.6
8.0
Tracklist
01. Something Breathes
02. Unhealthy Opera
03. From The Depths
04. Avatar Ceremony
05. Temple Of Infinity
06. Abnormal Intrusion
07. Screaming Shores
08. The Book
09. Horror From The Sea
10. Lair...
11. ...Of Madness
12. Injecting Dementia
13. Signs [Limited Edition bonus]
A review by
Dream Taster
October 30, 2006
Brutal Death Metal with knack is what Yyrkoon does best. Those guys brought something original to the scene with their 2004's "Occult Medicine", which has become one of my favorite albums. Now, they are doing it again with "Unhealthy Opera", still released through Osmose Productions, and once again produced at the legendary Hansen Studios in Denmark.

"Unhealthy Opera" was inspired by H. P. Lovecraft writings, with an emphasis on the Cthulhu mythos and the sea's abyss. That should already sound good to you. Musically, the band came up with a whale of an album, with devastating guitar solos and mastodon rhythms. The production is top-notch, the artwork superb, the concept great.

For the memorable moments of this album, the title track is definitely the ultimate Yyrkoon track while the bonus track 'Signs' is a great way to introduce the band to other audiences. Overall, this is a solid effort all the way through unfortunately I find that it lacks the homogeny of their previous effort. Nevertheless, it does not take away from the splendid performance of the French musicians, with a huge kudos to Laurent, the guy who filled the shoes of session drummer Dirk Verbeuren, and with talent. The core of the band is still intact with Stef [guitars, vocals], Jeff [guitars], and Victo [bass].

At the end of the day, "Unhealthy Opera" is a great release, designed for the brutal crowd out there. But it might reach more listeners beyond those, as it did with me, all due to huge musicianship and perfect execution. Check it out, it's worth the effort.
Rating breakdown
Performance: 10
Songwriting: 8
Originality: 8
Production: 9
Written on 30.10.2006 by
Dream Taster
Written on 30.10.2006 by
Dream Taster
Bringing you reviews of quality music and interesting questions such as:

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Comments

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Comments: 8 Visited by 31 users
Dangerboner
Lactation Cnslt

Posts: 7263
Permalink
30.10.2006 - 02:49
Rating: 8
Dangerboner
Lactation Cnslt

Posts: 7263


This is a very good album, but I think Occult Medicine is WAY better. I'd probably give this a slightly lower rating, but still...Unhealthy Opera is worth having.
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Dream Taster
The Enemy Within
Staff

Posts: 1342
Permalink
30.10.2006 - 02:52
Rating: 9
Dream Taster
The Enemy Within
Staff

Posts: 1342


Exactly my feeling.
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Opium Magnet
Account deleted
Permalink
30.10.2006 - 09:49
Opium Magnet
Account deleted
I'd give it a striaght 8.5, and yes, Occult Medicine was much better than this release, although this was still impressive upon first listen imo.
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Posts: 253
Permalink
30.10.2006 - 15:52
Rating: 8

Posts: 253
[quote all]
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oh my fucking god, fucking dinosaurs
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nb

Posts: 248
Permalink
30.10.2006 - 23:08
Rating: 9
nb

Posts: 248


Yyrkoon, great technical death metal
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Xtreme Jax
Psycroptipath

Posts: 2322
Permalink
31.10.2006 - 10:20
Rating: 8
Xtreme Jax
Psycroptipath

Posts: 2322


@NB, Technical Death Metal ? ... Ah not quite dude

The first album of theirs i heard was this one, and i was really drawn in by it. Good high quality death metal... Ive really been meaning to check out 'Occult Medicine' because every post that ive read on MS reguarding this album to be better than this one. Need to get my tail into gear to give it a listen because i absolutely love 'Unhealthy Opera'
----

Hellcunt Smurf
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Dangerboner
Lactation Cnslt

Posts: 7263
Permalink
01.11.2006 - 03:14
Rating: 8
Dangerboner
Lactation Cnslt

Posts: 7263


Written by Xtreme Jax on 31.10.2006 at 10:20

@NB, Technical Death Metal ? ... Ah not quite dude

The first album of theirs i heard was this one, and i was really drawn in by it. Good high quality death metal... Ive really been meaning to check out 'Occult Medicine' because every post that ive read on MS reguarding this album to be better than this one. Need to get my tail into gear to give it a listen because i absolutely love 'Unhealthy Opera'

Occult Medicine actually has some fairly technical songs. I don't know if I'd call them a tech death band, but some of their stuff is very precise. You should definitely check out that album.
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Posts: 910
Permalink
01.11.2006 - 19:51

Posts: 910


Here's what i personally think of the album:
Quote:
Unhealthy Opera: so their newest release. Due to it's predecessor, hopes were probably sky high when it was about to be released. The music is very very similar to what was presented on Occult Medicine. A few breakdowns (if that's what they're called) were an original part. But the thing they sadly couldn't take from OM was the atmosphere. I feel almost nothing when i'm listening to UO and that of course leaves a bad mark when i listen to it after OM. Even despite the more than average musical likeness of their previous release, the CD is still a good one to listen to (so no, my critisism wasn't about how i hated the CD, which i don't). It still has power and due to the missing atmosphere which i described when i was talking about OM, it's a fairly easy listen. Something to relax to. Plus the songs are more catchy. And no, i don't concider catchy songs to be the heralds of doom.
High points: Avatar Ceremony, Abnormal Intrusion, The Book, Horror From the Sea, ...Of Madness (THE best intro Yyrkoon has ever done imo. And also the only song that i remember from the concert thanks to listening to it. Images come back to my mind)
This release seemed to depend heavily on intros and the general songs seemed to suffer a little because of that. But not too much luckily
7/10 I gave a 7, because Oniric Transition deserved a 6. This is better than OT in a way and it's not worthy of the same grade as Dying Sun, which got an 8. Thus the 7.

I don't mind the slightly higher score here though. A nice, justified review.
And yes, listen to Occult Medicine
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