Japan is certainly not known for it's technical death metal scene. Willowtip, one of the better modern tech labels, decided to sign them and without knowing anything about them, I grabbed Desecravity's Implicit Obedience. The album is like a rollercoaster that has a lot of slow climbs. There's plenty of musical excitement, but to get to it you have to sit through a nearly insufferable wait.
Like a child I revel in the exciting aspects of Implicit Obedience. Like a condescending asshole I loathe the wankery, the production, and the try hard nature of the songwriting. With any band that has such instrumental talent, there's bound to be some great riffs scattered amongst the fellatio. This holds true for Implicit Obedience, and there are certainly some memorable passages on here. "The Collapse Of Religion" finds brutality in the odd, off-time riffing, "Hades" and "Extinction With Hatred" have solid bassline (of the few audible), and the more self-indulgent "Immortals' Warfare" is pretty enjoyable as well despite unnecessary sweeps that crop up on occasion. Most of the tracks do begin weak (see: "Demonize The Old Enemy") or with very few memorable sequences, and there isn't much in the way of cohesion. Each track is linked together by weak transitions and the album itself is held together by the two boring words "fast" and "technical."
The production on Implicit Obedience kills any sort of brutality that might've come with the high tempo. It is essentially what killed the album for me, taking brutal, semi-dissonant riffs and solos, and dumbing them down to pedestrian levels of banality. Riffs once organic and emotive become sterile and mechanized with this kind of production. Basslines once quaking and textured are rendered a distant, fleeting rumble. Shit like this is part of the reason tech/death is so hated by OSDM purists, and it's understandable when the production kills all musical and instrumental value that comes with being a technical death band to begin with.
6.75 out of 10
Tracklisting:
| 1. | Into the Unknown | ||
| 2. | Enthralled in Decimation | ||
| 3. | Immortals' Warfare | ||
| 4. | Demonize the Old Enemy | ||
| 5. | Hades | ||
| 6. | Condemnation | ||
| 7. | The Collapse of Religion | ||
| 8. | Extinction with Hatred | ||
| 9. | Dark Dimension |
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