The Last Felony
Too Many Humans
5.2
It takes either a superbly-trained ear or an unabashed love for anything and everything that remotely qualifies as technical death metal to begin to differentiate the nine songs and bonus track on The Last Felony’s Too Many Humans. What’s worse is that most of the songs play on the band’s apparent hate for human life (title track, “Overrated Existence,” and the subtle “We are Future Housing Developments for Maggots”), so it’s kind of like throwing a needle in a super-strength slicer before you toss it into the haystack, then trying to find all the pieces and put it together.
But Lifeforce didn’t sign these Montrealers out of pity. Clearly, these guys got chops. Vocalist Joss Freddette has an effective if somewhat generic growl. Guitarists Dom Grimard and Felix Robarge create a suitably chaotic mess, bassist Seb Painchaud is actually audible, and drummer Vince Menard sets the pace nicely. What I found unfortunate, given that this is, after all, a technical death metal band of sorts, is that all that talent would have been better suited for a straight-up death metal band. Hell, even a hardcore outfit would have been better suited to these guys’ talents. If anything stands out here, it’s the slower moments, whether it’s a melodic build-up (first 30 seconds of the album) or a breakdown (1:43-2:12 of “Do Not Defend Me”).
A breather between the brutality is one thing. Those moments act as a palette cleanser. It’s like sitting down to a fixed price meal. You’re enjoying that honeydew gelee after downing a steak fit for none, but you’re no sooner done with that when you’re ready for another meat dish. This isn’t that breather. I sat down to a fixed price meal (or a table d’hote for the fancy types) when all I wanted was an a la carte order. The sound here is just too busy to let the stronger characteristics of the band shine through. Middling between genres seems to do The Last Felony little good in terms of both the music itself and any chance they had at standing out. However, the talent is there, and with some major tweaking we could be looking at a solid third album. Here’s to optimism.
