The first glimpse I got from THE AMENTA was a promotional photo. Back then I thought: “fife guys posing for the Dimmu-Borgir-lookalike-contest, so what…” I was expecting some kind of this new, trendy-evil gothic-industrial bands like Deathstars and the like. Boy, was I wrong. Luckily, THE AMENTA are lightyears away from this genre, celebrating a mix of highly skilled technical Death/ Black/ Industrial Metal. Band members recruit from several Death Metal and Grindcore bands; the most renowned of them propably ABORTED from which Diazanon (Dave Haley) on Drums hails.
It is difficult to describe THE AMENTA’s sound to anyone not knowing them- because what you will hear here is something which to my best knowledge has not been heard anywhere else before. Search in vain for catchy melodies, simple songstructures and the like- what you will find here is hyperspeed doublebass and extreme fast blastbeats as well as Cesium 137’s growls and screams accompanied by guitars which not so much play melodies, but create eerie, spherical noises. All of this is interrupted by industrial soundscapes which remind me a bit of the atmosphere in the early Alien-Films. THE AMENTA are sterile, alien, hostile and cold – two bands come to my mind when listening to them, namely THORNS and ZYKLON; combine the cold machine sound of the first with the sreeching, banshee-like guitarwork from the latter; multiply that and you reach the soundscapes of THE AMENTA.
Only one song could possibly be described to be in the style of traditional songwriting, which is “Nihil”- a great, double-bass- based mosh-monster with so much as a catchy melody. The rest of the songs are best labeled as lightning- fast hymns to destruction. This was not made for humans, or any other organic life. It makes most of the wannabe-evil-cold Black Metal bands look as if they perform happy dance-hymns for birthday parties in comparison. It is brutal, aggressive, dissonant and industrial. If you want easy listening, stay away like hell- this album will disintegrate your ears. But anyway, as you read this on Avantgarde-Metal you will probably not expect easy listening… You have been warned. I for once await their second album “n0n” which will hopefully be released this year.
I will conclude this with THE AMENTA’s own words:
“Extreme music for an age rotting to rags. Do you want traditional? Do you want safe? Do you want the sound of a million brainless hacks slaving away on thrash solos learned by rote from guitar magazines? The Amenta is NOT FOR YOU.”
– Tentakel P.
VITALS:
Release: 2004
Label: Listenable Records
Avantgenre: Screeching Industrified Death Metal
Duration: 41:52
Origin: Australia
Official site: http://www.theamenta.com
Review online since: 11.08.2007 / 00:16:22
TRACKLIST:
01 – Erebus
02 – Mictlan
03 – Zero
04 – Senium
05 – Nihil
06 – Geilt
07 – Sekem
08 – Occasus
09 – Ennea
10 – Sangre
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