Cerebus Effect
Acts of Deception
3.3
This CD has no place here. It is metal the way Dungeons and Dragons is a martial arts. Progressive fusion jazz technigeekbullshit that is not really even fucking music is what this is. If this moves you you need less fucking fiber in your diet. This is what very wicked musicians have to play in hell when they die, and what very stupid reviewers have to listen to when they return to reviewing.
OK, well, musicianship is, technically, a 6, right? I mean, why would these bumfuckers even get out of bed in the morning to play shit like this if they weren't all about showing off their massive abilities? It's almost like watching Rain Man do math: what the fuck else is he good for? So prepare to be deluged with solos, solos, solos and....yep, fucking solos. Keyboards, guitars, basses, drummses, all wanking like middleaged combovers living in their mother's basements watching whichever teenaged sex wad is the pop music queen this week.
But...what's this? Someone is mumbling to themself in the background on song two. He sounds like Serg Tankian's cranky uncle in the basement with the door shut. Only without the keen sense of personality or humor. Just the cranky. What is he singing about? Hard to say because, as I said, he sounds like he is on the other side of the door. And I am willing to bet that is for the best, because if the lyrics are anything like the music it can only lead to tears of embarrassment. He wanders in from time to time to no real purpose. If vocals are a way to bring a human focus to a piece of music this guy fails so miserably he might as well be a prayer.
Can I think of anything good to say about this that is not directly related to the eye-hand coordination of the players? Hmmmm. Well.....Hmmmmm. The bass has a nifty distortion on it. Sometimes.
Yep. That's it. Sometimes good distortion. On the Bass. That's the high point. Excited?
So, Bottom line on this is...it should never have been sent to a site called Metal Review unless the record company wanted to punish the band. It's simply not metal, and it's not good music, either. I can think of no reason to own this that isn't a result of working as a reviewer. Just avoid it.
