This is more like it!
This recording hits the ground running. The Canadian duo seems to have begun all the way back in 2008 as Tual-Masok and in 2010 they changed to their current name. They did an EP in 2011 and in 2013 the first full-length, a second album in 2016 and third album in 2021. This brings us to this four-song 16-minute cacophony of blasting brutal death metal. The duo is Charlie Leduc on guitars and growls and Neil Grandy on drums.
Perhaps the main reason it’s good to the ear that it feels like headbanging metal. This band manages to sound like a maniacally possessed total frenzy, but it is also intelligible. That’s probably due to the fact that the guitar work comes from metal music, as opposed to being inspired by free-form jazz, prog or groove/core. The most basic way to explain it is to say that even though this is totally blasting insanity, the listener that pays attention will notice that there is a thrash heritage that is sped up but still tangible.
The band would also like the listeners to know the following about their perspective on making music: “All instruments are real f****** instruments and each can be discerned without the overproduced wall of plugins & tone packs we have unfortunately grown accustomed to hearing today. There is an eerie atmosphere that lurks through-out this album and it can be heard clearly through every string, growl, and cymbal.” To put it plainly, they must be really tired of the big lie in metal music: Metal bands do not use the real work of their drummer. They do not let the people hear what their drummer truly sounds like (and the rest of their music). It is edited and sampled drumming, which essentially is a fancy way of saying programmed drumming. In other words, no human drummer actually played the stuff. Now, how much of this recording is real, live drums? I don’t know if this band is themselves lying. However, I am relaying a message that the band wants metal audiences to know. Personally, I did immediately notice that the drums sounded different on this recording, and not mechanical or plastic.
The vocals are a deep growl, the riffs rush by, and it all may sound like one big loud blur the first time, especially if a person’s ears are not used to these dazzling speeds. However, given that the recording is only four songs and the songwriting is headbanging metal, after a couple of listens, all the pieces fit like a puzzle and you can have yourself a good time with this chaotic hoedown.
Deformatory
Harbinger
13 September 2022
HARBINGER
by DEFORMATORY
https://www.facebook.com/Deformatory
