Review Summary: While not quite as defined as their following album, Sectu manages to produce a successful modern death metal package with their first effort.
Sectu are pretty unheard of in the modern death metal world but provide an entertaining mix of melody, groove and technicality which makes their music a lot more tolerable than that of some of their peers, whom have steadily polarized from the more balanced death metal formula that could be found in the 90s, resulting in a mix of dull trend followers and occasional successes by working round their genre constraints. Though Sectu's following album, this year's
Gerra, is more polished and defined, their first effort,
Inundate is entertaining too and has many of the same elements that made their most recent effort a success.
Instrumentation on this album is extremely good. The guitar work is tight but also wild and technical, with a variety of pick scrapes and odd chords mixed in with fast tremolo picking and arpeggios, along with more melodic riffs styles rooted in traditional death metal such as
Death and
Morbid Angel. The bass isn't especially audible, but tightly follows the guitarwork, while the drumming is athletic and technical, with some fast blast beats mixed in with odd time signatures and double bass work. The vocals on the album are between a lower-mid range bark and a low roar, providing a fairly guttural but also forceful sound. Production on the album is quite indistinct, with some of the quieter guitar lines being blotted out by cymbal work, while the bass is too low and undefined, though the sound is acceptable for the majority of the album.
The majority of this album quite easily pleases the average listener; opener
Age Of Splendour gets into the albums strong riffs and melodies after a shaky start, likewise with following tracks
Storm and
Dominion featuring technicality and catchy riffs, helping to provide a lot of initial momentum to the album. The unexceptional
Dream Vessel does however provide a drop in quality, with repetitive and dull riffs that get bogged down in low string chugging, while
Ceremonial March feels out of place due to its placement in the middle of the album, effectively serving as filler.
Unseeing Divine gets the album back on track however, easily matching up to the first 3 tracks in content.
Incantation of the Lost Continent and
Procession Through Flesh end the album in a satisfying manner, both tracks featuring more of the effective melody and riffs of earlier tracks.
Despite lapses in quality in certain areas of both the tracks and the album, there is a great deal of entertaining material to listen to and the variety of sounds available work effectively without too many jarring moments. There are many areas for improvement, such as the occasionally dull riffing and weaknesses in song structure, but most of them are addressed in the following release. Overall this is a great modern death metal album and while not a huge stand out its by all means entertaining.
Recommended Tracks:
Unseeing Divine
Age Of Splendour
Storms
Procession Through Flesh
Dominion
Incantation of the Lost Continent
