Beneath The Massacre: Dystopia Review

Band: Beneath The Massacre

Album: Dystopia

Release Date: October 28th, 2008

Record Label: Prosthetic Records

Mixed by Jason Suecof, mastered by Alan Douches.

Album Art by Felix Rancourt

Last week when I named my ten picks for the best death metal vocals (IGN.Com names 10 Best Death Metal Vocals) I stressed how I enjoy clarity. I like to hear what they are screaming, growling or grunting, if not maybe just a little bit. Let me start off by saying that this is the only thing I don’t like about Beneath The Massacre’s sophomore release on Prosthetic Records, titled Dystopia. It’s not like a totally inaudible sound like some other death metal bands that I’ve heard. It’s just slightly incomprehensible. Dystopia does however has a melodic brutality about it that you don’t get very often.

Hailing from Montreal, Canada, this four piece death metal band has had a lot of road time between the release of their first EP (Mechanics Of Dysfunction) with Prosthetic Records and Dystopia, which comes out tomorrow, October 28th. That’s the only way you’ll make it in the extreme (I’m so tired of that word) metal genre. You have to go out there and tour your ass off to get your name out there and more than just another band signed on an indie label. I mean, let’s be honest, it seems like it’s getting easier and easier for bands to get “Signed”. You have to be a self-sustaining band as well and have a good label supporting you.

As far as Dystopia goes, the guitar work of Christopher Bradley is complex and melodic while Justin Rousselle’s drumming is a furious onslaught of blast-beats that somehow keep a consistent rhythm with speed that’s matched by very few drummers these days. The problem I have with such complex riff work is that at times there feels like there is no solid hook to keep listeners like myself coming back for more. There are so many melodic leads that could be complimented by more low end chugging rhythms. Sometimes a little simplicity can make the biggest difference in how a song is delivered. When there are good chugging rhythm riffs is when I dig this cd the most, like on Lithium Overdose and Never More. There are some great solos that seem somewhat short natured but well placed and constructed. Dennis Bradley’s bass playing could be more evident on this record. Perhaps a little more bass guitar could improve on the lack of chugging riffs that I feel like I’m being deprived of.

Elliot Desgagnés vocals, as I said leave me wanting a little more clarity. He’s got a great deep, guttural and throaty growl that sounds good, but I desire more enunciation in the lyrics. Maybe it’s me getting older or maybe it’s my taste in metal that seems to change from month to month. Lyrically, Dystopia is great. Condemned starts out the cd with the line “Can you feel the anguish taking over? Thrown into this world with no essence. We are what we asked for; rapists and architects of decay and destruction. We claim our innocence…”, while the song Wasteland reads as: “Knee deep in the blood of our peers/ It’s already too late/ There is no turning back? Oblivious to our actions/ Conditioned lifestyle leading to our extinction”. No complex, 4 syllable words to have to look up, just straight forward lyrics that say it all. Human beings are a parasite to this world, that don’t often learn from our actions. We see the destruction left in our paths and we say we need to change, but we keep on being the greed-filled entities that we are, with little remorse and even less solutions. Maybe one day we will learn and change before we become the product of our own demise.

Overall this isn’t a bad record but leaves me feeing like I couldn’t listen to it very often, kind of like The Acacia Strain. One of those bands that sounds really good…in great moderation. This, to me, is one of those records that’s appreciated more when it’s not played on a regular basis. Perhaps with time I’ll find myself listening to it more like I did with Withered’s last release. Give Beneath The Massacre a listen on Myspace. If you like that then you will probably like the rest of Dystopia.

Beneath The Massacre: Dystopia Track List

1. Condemned
2. Reign of Terror
3. Our Common Grave
4. Harvest of Hate
5. The Wasteland
6. Bitter
7. No Future
8. Lithium Overdose
9. Never More
10. Procreating The Infection

Beneath The Massacre On Myspace

http://BeneathTheMassacre.com

Image Source: Amazon.com