Deem Index - Mass//Minus

"Mass//Minus" is the second EP from Netherland’s melo-death act Deem Index. Taking a catchy guitar approach that would appeal to fans of earlier In Flames and a vocal delivery that can be compared to Threat Signal meets Dark Tranquillity. The album sets listeners up for a pretty decent slab of music. While they don’t do anything revolutionary compared to some of their pioneering counterparts, ‘Mass//Minus’ is chock full of catchy riffs and harsh/clean vocal trade offs that can appeal to different metal genre fans. Whether it is the clean, yet mournful tones of 'Monologue About Violets' or the more frantic 'Vortex in Slow Motion' the music is very accessible to most melo-death fans without too much to complain about things being ‘too hard’ or ‘too soft.’ Vocally, the harsh outweigh the clean, but there is a bit of dynamic range to them so they don’t feel boring. 'Monologue About Violets' is probably the most likeable track with the way they structure the riffs and vocals together, adding almost more of hard rock vibe to mix in that sounds very catchy.

Other tracks like 'Three Stones Back' just churn with early Dark Tranquillity worship, but that isn’t too bad for fans of the older, more raw Gothenburg feel of the late 90s. On the downside, the styling of the midpaced riffing does feel a little repetitive but the guitars really shine here in their slower moments.

Things pick back up with the thunderous assault from the drums on the closer 'Halo' that would make fans of Children Of Bodom proud (the only thing that would be missing are keyboards) and overall it serves as a nice end to the EP. Overall, this rather unknown band is pretty decent with their melo-death offering. Deem Index doesn’t dive into anything that completely makes their work outlandish but they also try not to be a complete copycat of other groups to make listeners just shrug their shoulders and move on to more dynamic artists. Hopefully their first full length will capitalize on their harsh/clean delivery with a few more surprises to make them more interesting.

3 / 5 STARS 

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1. Scale Of Content
2. Monologue About Violets
3. Solo
4. Vortex In Slow Motion
5. Three Stones Back
6. Halo


Self released
Reviewer: Colin McNamara
May 3, 2020

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