Murder Therapy
The Therapy
6.7
I have some kind of innate knack for selecting 11-minute records, this one being like my fourth in the last few months... Weird.
Italy's Murder Therapy is a by-the-numbers death metal band, but if you enjoy classic semi-technical death metal, then don't let their lack of innovation deter you. While they're squarely within the box, they do what they do well—certainly well enough to be worthy of some label attention, since they’re currently unsigned. The Therapy contains four songs of Deicide-styled pummeling, more old-school than the blast-happy wall-of-sound heaviness that too many bands go for these days.
Lyrically, what we have here is the usual suspects—sickness, madness, death—but the riffs are crisp and well-constructed, and the performance and production are both solid, if honestly perhaps just a bit too clean. Therein lies my biggest criticism, which is that I simply wish this slab of sickness-inspired death metal sounded sicker, dirtier, viler than it is. (I’d ratchet up the guitar tone a bit—still not filthy enough for my tastes.) Vocalist Riccardo Meschiari is the strongest member of the band, with a deep guttural voice that leaves some lyrics discernable, particularly the repeated "infamy" in "Plainfield Memories" and the chanted "murder" in the title track. Some of the riffs utilize an off-kilter Immolation-style approach, not quite as dissonant, but with a hint of that band’s malevolent squall. On the plus side, too, Murder Therapy does have the good sense to vary tempos enough to keep the songs interesting. The title track, with its whispered introductory vocal and repeated "murder," stands as the album’s most complete song, although honestly (and I don’t find myself saying this often), it could last longer than 2:30, especially if it had a sicker guitar tone. The descending intro riff plus the heavily percussive structure and the chanted "murder" refrain all add up to some serious head-banging goodness.
I won’t spend any more time writing, really, because there’s not too much to say about eleven minutes of music—this is but a taste of what Murder Therapy could do, and I’m impressed if not totally overwhelmed. There’s potential here, and I await the chance to hear more than eleven minutes at some later date. This is old-school death metal, tight and precise and surgical, and aside from the fact that you likely have similar records in your collection already, there’s nothing at all wrong with this. A good start.
