Mastabah - Quintessence Of Evil |
Published February 22 2010
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Shithole* |
| Genre | Death Metal |
Levan
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Vocals
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| Tracks | 9 |
Levan
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Guitar
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| Runningtime | 32 Min. |
Thorn
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Guitar
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| Label | Wyrm Records |
Mar
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Bass
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| Release | 22 January 2010 |
Goro
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Drums
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| Country | Poland |
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Keyboard
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| Similar artists | Decapitated | ||
A good friend of mine once said that if it's from Poland and it's death metal it's good. Poland has by virtue of bands as Vader, Decapitated and Behemoth launched such a sonic onslaught that the metal community was left reeling.
Mastabah certainly doesn't disappoint in this regard. Especially the drummer Goro slays his drumkit like an evil energizer bunny on speed - the speed on his chops is just astounding. As you can well understand this is not the record to put on if you want a moment of easy listening - "Quintessence Of Evil" is quite simply put the most challenging piece of music I've run across this year.
The technicality of the music is just staggering, and I keep asking myself if it's at all humanly possible to push the envelope any further - Mastabah leaves me gasping for air midways through the album.
Although I am a sucker for really technical death metal there is a limit to just how much you can take in as a listener. While I applaud bands that put out records on which there isn't any letup, you have to give the listener a chance to catch a breath during any brutal record. Mastabah doesn't do that, which is my main objection to "Quintessence Of Evil" - because you're going to have a hard time convincing me that these guys can't play - but a record that keeps the gas pedal riveted to the floor the entire length of the album can, and does in this case, be too much.
Mastabah sure do have the skills as musicians to play
their darkened hearts out, but they still have a ways before they can
be hailed as master songwriters as well. This said, Quintessence Of
Evil is an interesting and challenging record from a band that I'm positive
will be interesting to follow in the future.
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Performance
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Originality
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Production
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Vocals
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Songwriting
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8 |
5 |
6 |
6 |
6 |
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Summary
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6 chalices of 10 - Martin |
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