It’s hard to define genres these days, or rather it’s hard
to define where a band stands musically, there is just so much mongrelism
(fusion), and also new subgenres popping up left, right, and centre, supposedly
proclaiming the breaking of some kind of dubiously existent musical ground. A
few of these mighty grey areas are the “post” subgenres. Where exactly do you
draw the line? Especially in a genre whose fans are often known to be searching
for the “trve” and who sometimes resent any kind of musical development. Mutilation
Rites’ new EP I Am Legion stands firmly rooted in the black metal and
thrash zone, but there are couple of moments of swirling, mesmerizing distortion
which call to mind things as far reaching as Xasthur and Mogwai. These are also
Mutilation Rite’s best moments. But anyway, decide for yourself on genres, I
only offer conjecture.
Unfortunately most of the bands riffs leave something to be
desired, presenting us with bland melodies and poorly realized harmonies,
neither raw enough nor lush enough, even though the wretched vocals are quite
satisfying. This is a well-produced album, as I believe the band has been
getting some attention recently, and it also has beautiful cover art, but the
music, while showing signs of talent, is unfortunately recycled. The first riff
is actually the best on the album: a drawn-out, psychedelic/depressing black
metal riff that you can happily listen to for a couple of minutes, but then
immediately after the band sinks into a barrage of aptly played but poorly
written black metal, crosses over to blackened thrash for the second track and
then manages to remind us nostalgically of Darkthrone (not always the easiest
thing to do to the listener) at the beginning of the final track, Terrestrial
Hell, and throws one more good riff in (similar to the first riff of this
seventeen minute EP), but regrettably concludes on a riff that was just
sloppily written; no symmetry (or dissymmetry, for the matter, although it is
the same thing), and a harmony that sits in no point of relativity. Hopefully
we will see an improvement on their upcoming debut full-length, Empyrean,
later this year.
In short: An unremarkable little release, but one that might
just possibly develop into something cool one day.
Standout tracks: Only really certain riffs caught my
attention, tracks as a whole not coming off on me
Score: 5.0
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