Origin - Antithesis review
| Band: | Origin |
| Album: | Antithesis |
| Style: | Technical death metal |
| Release date: | April 01, 2008 |
| A review by: | Herzebeth |
01. The Aftermath
02. Algorithm
03. Consuming Misery
04. Wrath Of Vishnu
05. Finite
06. The Appalling
07. Void
08. Ubiquitous
09. The Beyond Within
10. Antithesis
Have you ever ordered a cheeseburger, let's say..at Burger King... and right when you were adding the jalapeños (you know? after the first bite) you realize the cheeseburger is actually a regular burger? yes! without cheese!! Obviously you already had a little bite, so you can't return it of course, you then take a seat and while being a little depressed you say, - "well, it's not so bad I guess, many people don't like cheese in the first place...those lactose intolerant guys right? meh... I wanted a cheeseburger!...oh well, what can I do, I'll try to enjoy this or something" you then finish your meal and leave the place unhappy but with a full belly none the less...
That's Antithesis as a whole...cheese is brutality (there are also people who suffer an intolerance for brutality, you see?), the cheeseburger is what you were looking for in the first place (an overwhelming album), and the regular burger is what you get (Antithesis)...so change those variables and re-write the phrase found in the first paragraph and Boom!!...there's your review.
Turns out many people is going crazy about this album..."Probably the best CD released this year"...the best? Compared to what? Aborted and Kataklysm maybe? I think if we were currently living in 2006 (when Suffocation, Cannibal Corpse and Deicide released their awesome albums) Origin would undoubtedly be the black pea in the white rice. Surely it's a good listen, but it's not what I ordered period. What Origin does is not Brutal, it's just plain Death with the fastest execution I've ever heard since the year 2000, but that's it, I didn't want to hear speedy music (that's the main reason why The Berzerker exists, am I right?) playing as fast as only hell can be is not a synonym of brutality.
Sure, it sounds good and it is very entertaining, but it lacks the only thing it promises to deliver; in my opinion that's why people is liking this so much, most people hate Brutal Death, so here comes this album wearing the BDM banner, people try it and hear something bearable...Voilá...a "great" album is born thanks to the media. It's surely fast and hostile, but it's not Brutal Death Metal.
So, in the end I can see myself enjoying this album, not for being as brutal as midget tossing, but for being good Death Metal with technical cuts and scary vokills; it's even better when you purchase this album thinking "I'm about to listen to some good ol' Death Metal" believe me. As a whole, this album is not butt ugly, the hooks will surely catch you, the moshing will surely take place, and the headbanging will be unstoppable. So, set your "hype" meter to low this time, then you'll enjoy.
Best Tracks: The Aftermath, Ubiquitous, Consuming Misery
Rating breakdown
| Performance: | 8 |
| Songwriting: | 7 |
| Originality: | 6 |
| Production: | 8 |
Written by Herzebeth | 02.07.2008
Rating:
9.3
9.3
|
Rating: 9.3 |
These days, it is highly obvious that the death metal scene we all love is evolving, due to a highly practiced subgenre where bands are just bursting out their technical skills. Well, this is so called technical death metal. Although there was always one main goal in death metal, being to deliver sheer intensity and relentless music to which some bands fail at because they're to concentrated on the complexity of their writing, that could be good or bad, but here stands a band named Origin who can deliver the chops and play brutal, fast, eardrum blasting metal all at the same time and that's what we all need when it comes to death metal am I wrong? Read more ›› |
Comments
Comments: 17
Visited by: 216 users
| Baz Anderson Staff Posts: 13262  |
Agree to some extent. This is a good album, maybe a little overrated - but the speed, especially the drums is impressive - and also probably the only thing about this album and Origin in general that stands them out from other average death metal bands. The album is monotonous.. that is its main problem in my opinion.. impressive but monotonous. (Impressive live too)
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| -Soulreaper- Posts: 435  |
I agree completely with the review. The album is good in retrospect to fast brutality but I was expecting it to grab me a little more on the first spin.
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| Talvi Posts: 825  |
So because people say this album is amazing and you don't like it as much you set it to a lower rating? You were expecting Brutal Death, it's very fast Death metal, but that it's not something you can denote as bad.
---- My account on other musical pages: http://www.last.fm/user/Pozito/ http://rateyourmusic.com/~Talvi
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| Reizenstein Posts: 59  |
I havn't heard the album, but honestly, that cheese metaphor is just brilliant!
---- Growl
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| foschino Account deleted |
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| Rupert Posts: 469  |
I love cheeseburgers, not so much brutal death metal. Good review, I understand Herzebeth's point and I imagine even with the let down he rated it as objectively as possible.
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| Visioneerie Urban Monster Posts: 810  |
This is the lowest rating or most opposed point of view i have yet seen for this album. Don't get me wrong, everyone has their own tastes and i respect that. But lets see here, if you've heard any other releases of Origin, then you should know better than to expect straight up BDM from them. The point of this record isn't to be the most brutal work out there, the media can label it as they please i don't care. Something else i don't agree with is when you said it's just plain ol' death metal, maybe it will be so in 5-10 years, but at the present these guys are pushing the boundaries and are giving some new elements to the genre. There's brutal death metal bands there's the technical death metal bands , there's your classic death metal bands ... well Origin can blend in the 3 for a very satisfying end result, maybe you need to give it more listens, but this review isn't so descriptive of how the album really sounds like.
---- Any man can stand adversity, but to test his character give him power - A. Lincoln
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| Jason W. Razorbliss Staff Posts: 3523  |
I think your metaphor about the black pea in the white rice is an accurate one: in that what I'm looking for in death metal is always that black pea in white rice, because, honestly, white rice was boring back in 1995, and still is today! I do think that this album can be a bit monotonous, but that's only a minor flaw, and I do wish that you had not approached this album expecting something at all. To me, anytime an album delivers exactly what I expected, I'm wholly disappointed, and that in itself is a failure. Not a 10 to me, but really the only death metal album I praise with genuine enthusiasm so far this year. And to me at least, compared to Cannibal Corpse's 2006 effort, this album is lightyears apart and ahead of it.... And as stated earlier, they were awesome live; really showing off the technical skills.
---- "After silence that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music." - Aldous Huxley
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| Black_Handed A village idiot Posts: 386  |
Written by Jason W. on 03.07.2008 at 02:49 i agree with you absolutely  . CC is, was, and most likely will be boring, no new ideas, no catchiness, no interest (not that you said that, but i just extended on that  ). why origin should try to be the most brutal with every album anyway, they already try to be the fastest, while being technical as hell (berzerker doesnt do that technique part much do they?)? we have Informis Infinitas Inhumanitas album, very brutal, while being pretty groovy and quite technical. they just tried to find a new sound, why punish them for it? objectively this album is catchy, extatic (just listen to the 2nd part of aftermath, or wrath of vishnu altogether) and more melodic (compared to its predecessors), plus they experiment with new kind of songwriting for them in last track antithesis.plus live....well....i saw them when i came to the "meant to come to see necrophagist" gig last year. necrophagist had problems with their drummer, thus they didnt play. the rest was burning skies (i think), origin and misery index. burning skies was just basically plain grindcore for me (difficult to put it exactly live). misery index was last, and well, they are another example of boring band for me (just compare them with dying fetus, from which it stemmed, live). in the middle there was origin....even if the sound wasnt top notch, most of the audience were just blown out with their performance. especially by mike flores (bass), while looking like that he left a concentration camp a few months ago, hes unbelievably fast. all that catchiness found on origins albums is still there, stage presence by james lee (vocals) is very good too (well all of them fell quite present ), hes like rabid dog .
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| Sunioj Posts: 3894  |
I'm not sure if this is my favorite death metal album this year yet, Detrimentum, Demiurg, Hail of Bullets, Gortuary, are have been treating me quite well.
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| Herzebeth Posts: 5537  |
I was going to answer to most of the comments here, but to be honest the following post is everything I want to say that wasn't in the review so... Thanks Baz for being such a great (and objective) Metalhead Written by Baz Anderson on 02.07.2008 at 23:13 And shame on the guy who said Suffocation's latest release is not overwhelming, their Self Titled album could be one of the most fresh albums in their history, that fact said about the fathers of Brutal and Technical Metal...
----
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| Visioneerie Urban Monster Posts: 810 |
Quote: fathers of BDM surely, but not technical
---- Any man can stand adversity, but to test his character give him power - A. Lincoln
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| Black_Handed A village idiot Posts: 386 |
Written by Herzebeth on 03.07.2008 at 19:04 well i almost agree with that too. its not that monotonous, maybe ubiquitous or algorithm might be a bit, but aftermath, antithesis, wrath of vishnu, finite are not (those i actually my favourites). wrath of vishnu for example: begins brutal and evolves into one of the more melodic origin songs. i myself would give a slightly higher rating closer to 8.0. maybe a little bit more. "more" because of the lasting value, i keep listening to that album since it was released, plus it is one of those albums you have to listen on a pretty high volume, not that big surprise since origin is that way all the time. btw herz: have you tried the previous albums? im sure youd love Informis.
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| Metal George Posts: 75  |
I have never considered Origin to be Brutal Death Metal like Suffocation. They are more like Cryptopsy, technical death metal with some grind riffs too. Origin does not have breakdowns like Suffocation and they are more technical. But Suffocation is still pretty tech. This album is just as good as thier last one I feel.
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| Black_Handed A village idiot Posts: 386 |
they do have breakdowns just listen to reciprocal from echoes, even though youre right that theyre not as usual as with suffocation.
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| CliffemAll Posts: 23 |
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| BudDa Elite Posts: 887  |
Ahh..I like this album. I think 7.4 is a low rating. If its a "good album, maybe a little overrated - but the speed, especially the drums is impressive" and abit monotonous then I would give it an 8 That said, am a big origin fan boy so probably theres a bit of bias in my arguement..
---- Freeze! Step away from the hubris.
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