Review Summary: Rookies Plasmoptysis don't bring anything remarkably new to the genre, but they do provide some refreshingly excellent brutal death.
In a year that harbors the prospective release of brutal death metal's most anticipated album (Chapters of Repugnance), it behooves aspiring bands to make haste in putting out material. First of all, no one wants their band to be completely overshadowed by a titan when trying to make a name for themselves. Secondly, the brutal death crowd is so starved for Defeated Sanity's new album, that chances are they'll consume anything even remotely resembling the band to tide them over, so the probability of actually being heard is much higher. It seems that many such bands have elected to take this strategy in 2010, and for Indonesia's Plasmoptysis especially, it has paid off.
From the murky depths of obscurity (or Indonesia, whatever you will to call it), Plasmoptysis have put their best foot forward and assaulted the brutal death metal audience with a surprisingly well crafted album likened to their compatriots Jasad, Bleeding Corpse, and Asphyxiate. I say “surprisingly well” because it isn't so often that a brutal band is able to put out a great debut, much less one that exhibits the sense of maturity that Plasmoptysis have with
Breeds of the Malevolence. Like their country-mates, Plasmoptysis adopt a general style in the vein of their most prominent influences Suffocation and Disgorge, but moreso than their fellow countrymen, the band injects their own trademark into this flavor-of-the-month type of death metal (Disgorge worshiping). This trademark of sorts, as far as that goes, is most exemplified in the riffing which, while there is still some room for improvement, is an exhilaratingly unique and fluid take on brutal death riffing and easily the best aspect of the music.
The album is only about twenty minutes of music (excluding the bookend samples which take up a few minutes), but it makes up for its length by being one of the most energetic releases in the entire genre; that is to say there isn't much slamming going on at all here, which, by all means, is a welcome deviation. Up there with Extreme Violence's
Ecstasy in Pain and Disavowed's
Perceptive Deception, it will be a difficult task for any band to surpass Plasmoptysis this year where energy is the sole criterion.
Breeds of the Malevolence is an outstanding release for such a young band, and has done much to propel Indonesia into being one of the most exciting countries in the export of brutal death (along with Greece, Italy, Spain and the United States). With it, Plasmoptysis have commanded the attention of the brutal death world, and if they should be so lucky to have a healthy band line-up (not so common in the genre), they are almost guaranteed to follow through with an illustrious career.
