The Pitch: The latest offering from Costa Rican progressive, technical death metal crew Advent of Bedlam via Horror Pain Gore Death Productions. "A non-stop journey full of vile melodies, sick drumming, and corrosive vocals. A furious manifestation... inspired by Nikola Tesla's "Fragments of Olympian Gossip" and Orwellian Hymns to debt, synapses, and organ traffic." FFO: Scalpel, Suffering Hour, Horrendous
What I Like: Advent Of Bedlam represents a solid fusion of both old and new takes on the death metal genre. While the hoarse growls and production choices recall OSDM sentiments, the twisting, contorted instrumentation is much more forward thinking. The clunky bass tone, sporadic pace changes, and ugly, disjointed song construction all bring to mind more recent groups like Seputus and Altarage. As I listen, I swear that the smell of rusty steel and burning wires lingers in the air..
But in addition to death, there's a healthy dose of black metal going on here as well. This is particularly evident on certain tremolo-heavy portions of "The Ever Watchful Eye" and the Immortalish opening of "A Liar's Spit." Swap out the death growls for grim screeches and you've got yourself some 2nd wave. "Crown Of Greed" further flexes the band's versatility with some light doom flavoring as well as a pretty Bluesy outro. There is clearly more to Advent of Bedlam than meets the eye.
Critiques: If I'm being picky, I've heard other bands navigate this style more effectively. There are parts here and there that cause me to check out or become overloaded; whereas groups like Suffering Hour tend to be more consistently engaging. In short, the performances are strong, but the songwriting could use some mild tweaking.
The Verdict: Human Portal Phenomenon is another welcome entry to the pantheon of filthy, blackened technical death metal. While it just misses my A-tier list of albums in the genre, they're only off by a hair. With some continued focus on songwriting and album structure, Advent Of Bedlam are sure to strike fear into the hearts of any opposition.
Flight's Fav's: A Human Farm, Comstockery, Vultures Of The World
- Review by FlightOfIcarus
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