A rich synth starts out the album. It dives right into the meat of “Blood Tears”, which is a dark and extremely heavy slice of eerie classic sounding death metal. The sound is sculpted in a brutal atmosphere, but shards of evil sounding melodies creep out here an there, along with weird industrial and electronic touches. Another point of note, is that while synths are almost ever present in most of the songs, they never impose. Instead, they augment an already oppressive atmosphere. When they do become audible, the placement sounds very perfect. “The Day We Failed” continues the charge of industrial influenced death metal, with the added benefit of Sin-D ‘s competent clean vocals making an appearance. These provided one of the intriguing elements of the last album and here too they contrast with Py-er’s growls in a classic manner. His growling style is very adequate for the band’s overall sound. It is articulate yet very demonic sounding in places. But the vocals are varied in pitch, inflection and layers as per each song’s demands. In fact, his vocals (along with the band’s penchant for atmosphere) place the band closer to the Greek school (Septic Flesh). “Into Trouble Waters” has very effective guitar like reeling you in, leading to a ethereal yet heavy section that again showcases Syn-D’s impressive vocal skills. Again these are used sparingly , and the dark growls make the body of the song. A distinctly old school death groove pervades the structure of this song. This is a marriage in hell, as the best of old and new elements make for a rocking sound. Along with Septic Flesh (who differ in the clean goth vocals and melodies) and Tristwood (who stand out for their brutality and technicality), this is possibly the best such amalgamation I have witnessed. The eerie atmosphere is present throughout (which is integral to the success of death metal, and is layered with the keyboard sounds), riff placement is designed for maximum impact, the drums are programmed with a organic yet precise feel and the vocal variety rules above it all. The title track starts with a small Indian vocal sample, exploding into another head ripping demonic exultation. Indeed, the “Synthetic Light of Hope” never seems so bleak. The nice break provides an uncomfortable breather in this track.
Overall I feel that this is a more direct release than the band’s previous outings. It does sound like the band’s heaviest album to date, but that is such an arbitrary term. Anyone, who likes classic evil-sounding death metal with an eye to the future will find this an essential release. The piano and synths of the “Wasted Land” gain show a band always ready to expand yet never sacrificing the feel of their sound. The eventually flows in away as remind one of Red Harvest, and one wishes that those once-pioneers would stop simplifying their sound and embrace the layers again like this outfit does. “An Ordinary Day” is another charger, with some great melodic vocal embellishments. And those background sample layers simply kick-ass.
As you might have gathered from the above review, I am very much into this album and am simply writing like a fan (which I am, ever since I heard Hypnosis’s last album Seeds of Fate, which is itself an essential masterpiece of forward thinking metal). To me it again illustrates often mixing select traditional ingredients (Hellenic and old school Swedish death metal, darkwave, industrial) with a focused artistic visions reaps great dividends (including but not limited to, extended time on your player of choice).
-Suleiman
VITALS:
Release: 2008
Label: Great Dane Records
Avantgenre: French-Hellenic Death Synthesis
Duration: 40:31
Origin: France
Official site: http://www.hypnosismetal.fr.st/
Review online since: 24.12.2009 / 16:53:29
TRACKLIST:
1. Blood Tears
2. The Day We Failed
3. Into Trouble Waters
4. The Synthetic Light Of Hope
5. Wasted Land
6. An Ordinary Day
7. My Deepest Solitude
8. Dead Is The Sun
9. Kill Me When I Dream
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