Mr eel

Communion by Septicflesh

I like a bit of symphonic death metal — blast-beats and choirs ftw. That said, I don’t actually like a lot of the stuff that I hear. Most of it is frankly ridiculous, but I can deal with that as long as the tunes are good. And therein lies the problem. It’s pretty boring to hear metal racket with some strings slung behind it. Too few bands explore the possibilities of orchestration, treating it as mere colour. Additionally too many give into the temptation of writing long tunes, perhaps under the impression that it makes them epic. Few tunes deserve to be ten minutes long though.

Which brings me to Septicflesh. These guys get it. For one, the songs are nice and short. Only a few push five minutes long. The constraint of writing shorter songs seems to have made them focus on songwriting and it’s really paid off.

At the core, these songs are structured like most rock songs. Verse, bridge and chorus. No stupid orchestra only break downs, no martial marches, no weepy acoustic guitar solos. Just short, sharp and epic songs.

And the tiny things matter… one of my favorite moments is the introduction to Sangreal. The double-kicks roll for a bar, then for the next bar hit on the up-beat. It sounds off kilter and distinctly mechanical. It doesn’t sound like much, but it’s just one of those little things that keeps me listening again and again.

I can foresee this one being on heavy rotation for awhile now.

Posted on April 13th, 2008 | There are 1 comment

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