Review Summary: Waves roll like thunder. Ships torn asunder.
It took me more time than I care to admit to properly formulate my thoughts on the most recent Hideous Divinity outing. None of these reasons stem from some inherent fanboyism or bewildered disappointment or from it being some isolated/alien creative anomaly. Actually, it fits
quite neatly into the realms of technically proficient death metal-note, not the subgenre of tech-death itself as I wouldn’t say the guitar leads here are as infused with neoclassical influence as a typical Obscura/Beyond Creation record, nor as fixated on insane scalings as the likes of Nile-but rather it seems to meet at some crossroad between standard busied compositions ala Fleshgod Apocalypse with a propensity towards more traditional death metal stylings ala Hate Eternal ,or even Demigod-era Behemoth. It’s within this admittedly rather
safe territory in which
Unextinct reigns comfortably, albeit with a bone-shattering grip. That is to say, in layman's terms, this album is pretty ***ing
heavy.
We need not gaze too far into this crunchy meisterwerk to see how the mighty romp of “Against the Sovereignty of Mankind” is rife with stopping power. It begins with impressive catharsis-loads of low-end alternate picking, nigh comically fast blast beats, the roar of what could be an in-the-flesh lion and even a mighty tasty bass lick-and never ceases to ride this massive wall of sound, this decidedly “metal” energy in which the entirety of this record exudes. I suppose there are technically moments of respite, i.e. the distressed acoustic strums that introduce “Atto Quarto-The Horror Paradox”, or the first half of “Hair, Dirt, Mud” being predominantly filled with some haunting, aqueous keys (think ghost wreckage in a fogged and lightless ocean), but even these feel like they’re meant to contribute to the robust and over-the-top metal as
*** energy this mammoth exudes.
Now, in the wrong hands these qualities could become problematic, but these hands are as grisled as the palms of a lumber mill worker, and henceforth that energy is present EXTREMELY well off this record. For as common a motif as it may be in death metal, the desire for primal destruction will always be something deep within the heart for us monkey-brained fools-and when those gnarly, breathy gutturals resonate with such impressive fullness and ferocity off of “More Than Many, Never One” (which has some particular tight and potent drum fills too might I add) boy does one feel the cataclysmic energy that wreaks havoc upon our fragile mortal bones, shearing away flesh and skin with a primeval force that will forever remain impressive no matter how many bands can manage it. Make no mistake-while this may be helmed by insanely proficient musicians, its tunnel-vision trajectory ensures that it uses as much complexity and arrangement to arrive at a rather simple goal-to sound really goddamn heavy. For someone looking for more emotional nuance or creative goals that are wider in scope, you may need to look elsewhere. This is a primal bone-crusher out to level mountains and stir up mighty windstorms, and it’s a thrashing you will either enjoy or avert. I hope you will come to the former.
