Review Summary: The solid instrumentation and evocative content can't distract from the lack of innovation
"It’s time for the death metal cliché checklist once again. Silly, unpleasant-sounding band name? check. Ridiculous font for that band name? check. Grim, brutal album cover? check. Absurd song titles? check. Cool-sounding but meaningless album title? check. So, it all seems to be shaping up fairly well. Now, if you could just sign along the dotted line here we can get your album out into the masses and give politicians a new reason to hate metal music. No, no, the frontman signs the line. Wait, you are the frontman? You seem a bit more feminine than usual for this sort of…. No, no, it’s fine, I didn’t mean to presume. There’s been plenty of female-fronted death metal bands- Arch Enemy, Agoraphobic Nosebleed, Abnormality…. so of course, no problem. That’s perfect, thank you. And if you could just write on that line there what your lyrical subject matter covers. Most bands tend to just write ‘death’ but feel free to expand. Okay, that's a little more than I meant…. Good God, you’ve written me a list. Hang on, these actually seem like relevant, modern topics. You see, agenda is something we have to be a little bit careful with here… well, I suppose it’s not really a big issue, not like anyone’s going to be able to understand you anyway!"
The album opens with the industrial strains of ‘Syllogism’. It’s foreboding, bass-heavy and dripping with menace; the perfect start for the release. A narration is layered into the mix too, but may as well not be as it is more distracting than meaningful. Immediately after this listeners are plunged into the cataclysm that is ‘Abysmal Agony’. Ridiculous title it may be, the track is a savage, pummeling experience with some stellar riffs and a very satisfying breakdown. Even though the vibe is largely the same throughout the album, there are moments of genuine variety amidst the chaos; moments that are both well-incorporated and smartly maintained. For instance, the tracks ‘Immanetize Eschaton’ and ‘Devoid’ take an almost blackened approach to their songwriting and pace, being a lot more brooding and dangerous in tone than the full-on battering-ram speed exhibited elsewhere. Similarly, track ‘The Exquisite Taste Of Selfishness’ has a plodding method to its’ madness, with a stop-start flux that allows the corkscrew rhythms and punishing grooves to make themselves more obviously known. This is also the case on final track ‘Womb Forced Animus’, which is undoubtedly one of the best songs on the release.
Songs with such titles as ‘Celestial Patricide’, ‘Desecration Of Human Privilege’ and ‘Perpetrator Emasculation’, leave little to the imagination as regards what they are targeting, and all are accomplished but somewhat uninspired in their compositions. ‘Celestial Patricide’ especially has a nicely incorporated solo into a section of the song, which is haunting and pleasantly dissonant- unfortunately, it ends up being rather overused by the song's conclusion. There are occasions, particularly on ‘Desecration Of Human Privilege’, where the message almost feels as though it outweighs the quality of the music, and this isn’t a good thing. The track is essentially a long breakdown, followed by a frantic bridge and then a slightly tedious but admittedly melodic rhythm section. Even the vocal performance on this track evolves from a typical scream into a shout. It’s comfortably vicious sitting with the rest of the release, but is certainly one of the album’s weaker moments. These moments are highlighted due to the questionable production, which is constantly present throughout
Animus. Obviously, death metal does require a level of distortion to achieve that singularly ‘bludgeoning’ effect on the instrumentation, however the production here goes one too far and attempts a sort of blend for the percussion and the strings, layering the vocals somewhere inbetween rather than over the top. This renders the entire release as somewhat flat-sounding and lacking in dynamic discrepancy between music sections. This can best be observed at the conclusion of ‘Corrosion Of The Black Sun’, which develops into an instrumental final stretch. With a better production, this outro could have been a haunting refrain; after all, it is much quieter than the majority of the rest of the release. Instead, it comes across with almost exactly the same tone as every other moment on
Animus, which simply shouldn’t be.
There’s a statement at the core of
Animus, that much the cover is sure to tell any prospective listener. It is a solid and groovy blend of new-school brutality with more than a touch of the classic style of death metal, much like the band's previous work. Grind, hardcore and industrial all display their colours here and there and are most welcome when they do. The subject matter, however, could do with a review all for itself. On the one hand, yes, it is opinionated and relevant lyrical content- but on the other, it comes across as very preachy, which is somewhat bizarre for a death metal release. It’s proficient musically, and the vocal performance is solid- despite this, it doesn't offer anything particularly new within the genre to afford the final package the elements it needs to truly stand out; unfortunately, this is what the album really needed to sell its message. As with most death metal, the lyrics are indecipherable to the average listener, and this is possibly more of a plus than the band realize, as many individuals will doubtlessly pursue the release on account of its' musical quality rather than it's pseudo-political, pseudo-philosophical social pandering. Does this mean that death metal should have absolutely no substance? Of course not. However, there needs to be a balance and, all elements considered,
Animus tips wildly in favour of brazen self-righteousness.
