Demented - The Smell Of Decay
Formed in 2008 this one man technical Spanish death metal project was set in motion by Sparda Hyban Alcanar who also resides in black metal troupe Hyban Draco that has a few full lengths out. Augmented by a couple of musicians for live purposes studio output has been steady over the years due to the black metal act but here the Spanish guitarist has released more music under the album banner of "The Smell Of Decay". Adorned with a rather weird cover showing a scorpion on a multicoloured almost psychedelic background the musicianship matches the multicoloured depiction via musical notation.
Bravely this venture is a single song via the releases title and begins with a distorted spoken vocal line that sounds backwards but isn't (I checked) and an accompanying string like arrangement that morphs into a slow drawling guitar riff typical of old school death metal bands of the Scandinavian variety. The pace is sludgy but fast enough to set those rickety neck muscles in motion as a vocal snarl enters the menacing foray. A few minutes in and the tune transmutes itself into soft acoustic guitar and accompanying technical runs within a clean vocal virtually spoken segment. The background monastic chant adds mood and feeling as the tune increases the guitar work and growls appear. The piece of music swerves about veering from doom death like Opeth and Novembre to more upbeat raucousness but still very melodic and if in truth the technicality resides within the songs complex flow and not the actual playing. Again the plummeting changes of pace introduce softer more tranquil moments of acoustic guitar, vocal speech and string like accompaniment. The tempo changes work well and whilst possibly not the smoothest I've heard in this style of death metal they are sufficient enough to allow the listener to absorb the music as one continuous passage with the ebbs and flows taking on blast sections as well as those laid back gentile moments. It is true to say also that Sparda has packed a plethora of styles and arrangements into the song, making the tune feel like a mini opus.
I'd like to think that this 21 minute release has sufficient music and engagement to capture listeners of death metal that like technicality based on flow than all out guitar acrobatics as the song has plenty to keep you interested as ideas are aplenty here.
Bravely this venture is a single song via the releases title and begins with a distorted spoken vocal line that sounds backwards but isn't (I checked) and an accompanying string like arrangement that morphs into a slow drawling guitar riff typical of old school death metal bands of the Scandinavian variety. The pace is sludgy but fast enough to set those rickety neck muscles in motion as a vocal snarl enters the menacing foray. A few minutes in and the tune transmutes itself into soft acoustic guitar and accompanying technical runs within a clean vocal virtually spoken segment. The background monastic chant adds mood and feeling as the tune increases the guitar work and growls appear. The piece of music swerves about veering from doom death like Opeth and Novembre to more upbeat raucousness but still very melodic and if in truth the technicality resides within the songs complex flow and not the actual playing. Again the plummeting changes of pace introduce softer more tranquil moments of acoustic guitar, vocal speech and string like accompaniment. The tempo changes work well and whilst possibly not the smoothest I've heard in this style of death metal they are sufficient enough to allow the listener to absorb the music as one continuous passage with the ebbs and flows taking on blast sections as well as those laid back gentile moments. It is true to say also that Sparda has packed a plethora of styles and arrangements into the song, making the tune feel like a mini opus.
I'd like to think that this 21 minute release has sufficient music and engagement to capture listeners of death metal that like technicality based on flow than all out guitar acrobatics as the song has plenty to keep you interested as ideas are aplenty here.
- The Smell Of Decay
Self released
Reviewer: twansibon
Oct 25, 2014
Oct 25, 2014
Next review:
Cemetery Filth - Screams From The Catacombs
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