Review Summary: Shawn Whitaker's most mature and enjoyable listen to date.
You read the summary right, this is a one-man band. Shawn Whitaker AKA Insidious Decrepancy has been writing and self producing very good Brutal Death Metal for quite some time now. He has garnered a lot of respect and critical acclaim in the underground ever since his first release "Decadent Orgy of Atrocious Suffering" back in 2002. If you've never bothered, or even cared to check out Insidious Decrepancy before then this is probably the best time to. Extirpating Omniscient Certitude is easily ID's best effort to date. Though some of the same elements of past albums definitely show their face here and there, Shawn manages to add a few new elements to the mix, and it's all perfectly executed throughout.
Guitars - This is where the album shines the most. In the past, the guitars were mostly catered to a more standard Brutal Death Metal experience, by that I mean lots of chugging, semi-technical riffs, and little to no melody what so ever. Not that all those thing are a bad thing, at least in my eyes, but sometimes stagnation will start to set in and some bands just need to change a few things up here and there, which is exactly what ID successfully does. On Extirpating Omniscient Certitude, there is now a somewhat decent amount of melody to the guitars, and more memorable catchy riffs than ever before. Mind you, this isn't a complete transformation of guitar work Ala Decrepit Birth's ...And Time Begins to Diminishing Between Worlds, there is still a hell of a lot of heavy riffs scattered throughout that should satisfy any Brutal Death fan. Overall, the guitar work is fantastic. The riffs are more catchy, more memorable, and still very brutal as well. The only downside to this, is that there are still no solos to be found.
Bass - The bass work here is nothing special. It pretty much mimics the guitars the whole entire album. This is reasonable though since when Insidious Decrepancy is playing live, it's obviously just Shawn on stage with his guitar while doing vox. So there is no way he could possibly play any technical or complicated bass lines on stage anyway.
Vocals- The vocals on EOC are pretty good. They are the familiar Whitaker death growl, with the occasional low gutturals here and there. There is a perfect balance of letting the music just stand out, and the times when vocals are necessary and are in the right spots.
Drums - This is one of the factors that might turn some listeners off immediately. Unfortunately or fortunately, however way you look at it, Shawn uses drum programming. If I hadn't told you this, you probably wouldn't have even noticed at first, but there are some times on the album when the drumming just sounds inhumanly fast and precise. Which they are. Though this might have some people turn away from the album altogether, it's not really to noticeable and the drums are used at the right times, it's not like there are just random drum solos and spastic double bass and blast beats. This is a one-man band, keep in mind, so just the fact that Whitaker was able to mix in the drumming at the perfect spots is very impressive regardless.
Extirpating Omniscient Certitude is definitely a superb album, despite a few setbacks. The new elements to the guitar work, the strong vocals, and the improved songwriting all sound spectacular. So after all this, you have to ask yourself, what new ideas for the next Insidious Decrepancy release are circulating in Shawn Whitaker's mind now?
Pros
-Great Guitar Work
-Excellent vocals
-Best songwriting thus far
-Good Production
Cons
-Drum Program. For some, it's stupid and takes away from the whole experience. For others, it's awesome. Just depends on the person
-Could be longer, it's only 30 minutes in playing time.
-Bass work is not anything to get excited about
Standout tracks
-Perpetual Equanimity
-Slighting Salvation
-Once Revered
-Contemptuous Inception
