Act of Gods
Stench Of Centuries
4.4
Osmose has to be one of the most inconsistent labels around. From the excellence of Melechesh, the adventurous Shadows Land and the reliable Impaled Nazarene, to the sonic retardation of Bestial Mockery and Sadistik Exekution, they seem to counter punch their solid releases with utter tripe. They also seem to be content with a middle tier of acts that neither impress or upset, acts such as Exmortem, Abominator, Ravager, and it's this category where France’s Act of Gods fall.
A pure death metal project through and through with former members of Mutilated, Act of Gods display the requisite characterless, blast beat heavy, polished, US sounding style of death metal that label mates Exmortem peddle. Not necessarily bad, but I can think of about 100 albums I’d rather listen to given the choice. Certainly containing all the death metal clichés: brutal, vicious, unrelenting and blasting, and the mandatory death metal song titles (“Cathedral of Flesh”, “Scent of a Burning Angel”, “Obscene Messiah”) Act of Gods are no hacks, but quite simply there’s far better out there.
One song bridges into another with little or no identity, as blast beat after blast beat erupts with tinny polish from the speakers, all with the usual guttural growl and staccato mayhem. I quite simply recall a single riff or moment from the album that made my ears perk up or my finger reach for the rewind button, it gusts by as somewhat lengthy and by its end, tiresome 50 minutes. At least a single Morbid Angel –esque crawl would have maybe broken the album up somewhat, but there’s nothing, nada, rien. The very slight change of pace during “Dead End” just doesn’t cut it. At least their US counter parts (the entire Unique Leader roster?) deliver their sound with a hefty punch and sonic weight, and an occasional if brief rumble, and if not, the technical dexterity is enough to put you in the continual pace, Act of Gods possess neither, and their light production renders any brutality as merely speed based. To his credit Guilaume, is fine drummer, but when bashing away to completely forgettable songs, it’s a wasted effort.
I can understand Osmose wanting to promote home grown acts but when they reel of average release after average release, and when you consider the quality of fellow Frenchmen Benighted, you question some of their signings and wonder where the label is going. Come on guys.
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Act of GodsMaat
5/22/2006