Review: Humaniac – Until The Light Fakes Us

Style: Symphonic Technical Death Metal (harsh vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Necrophagist, Inferi
Review by: Zach
Country: Russia
Release date: 26 August, 2022

Alright. Here we go. It’s been a fun ride, you all, but I’m about to delve so deep into hypocrisy that I’ll never see the light of day again. I’m probably gonna be called a skinwalker for the things I’m about to write.

I love tech-death. It’s without a doubt been my second favorite subgenre of metal since I found out about the legendary Necrophagist back in high school, only second to its sister genre, prog-death. Tech-death is one of those genres that constantly surprises me when I think everyone’s run out of amazing riffs or ways to make the music so mind-bendingly fantastic. The insanely melodic Inferi constantly find new ways to make their albums consistently more amazing than their last. I thought Revenant was the peak until Vile Genesis absolutely shattered my expectations. Let’s not even get started on Archspire one-upping themselves.

But, in recent years, I’ve begun to have a serious issue with the genre. Tech-death has exploded in the past five or so years with new bands coming out on the weekly, all in a fight to prove themselves to be part of that upper echelon of tech-death. There’s  still amazing releases every year, but they float to the top while the other 9 billion stick to the middle of the barrel. The first time I heard orchestration used in Spawn of Possession’s ‘Apparition’, I was floored by how well it meshed with the music. The 600^th time I heard a band try their hand at it, I was less impressed. Here’s my hypocrisy: I should love this album. 

Humaniac are insanely skilled musicians, that’s no question. Anyone who even attempts to write tech-death will see how difficult actually writing riffs into songs is versus just noodling around on a guitar and finding something that sounds nice. I applaud them for putting their release out there despite the oversaturation of the genre, but this album is the avatar of everything I dislike about modern tech-death.

I’m reminded of the bit from SpongeBob with Squidward saying, “daring today, aren’t we?” A piano and string intro into a trem riff would be fantastic if any of the riffs on this album were memorable. What do Archspire, First Fragment and Spawn of Possession all have in common that puts them in that cut above? Memorability. Riffs that I can clearly remember after just a few listens. To Humaniac’s credit, they don’t play riff hot-potato like most tech-death bands do and like to repeat when they feel the need. I appreciate not having 37 riffs per measure, but I would also like to remember a few of them.

Another plus for Humaniac is their drums don’t sound nearly as triggered as most modern tech-death; however, the bass is absolutely nowhere to be heard in the mix aside from a few songs, which evens out the decent drum sound. The instrumentation is full of shreddy moments, which would be fantastic if it didn’t sound so much like Rings of Saturn but actually playable. The only thing that sets them apart is the orchestration. Yes, I know I just ragged on it, but ‘Daath’ and ‘Randolph Carter’ are legitimately amazing buildups, the former leading into probably my favorite song on the album. ‘…of 42, Childhood and Recursive Survival’ is the closest thing to Humaniac realizing their potential on this album.

When the band decides to slow the pace down a notch, there are some legitimately fantastic grooves that had my head bobbing involuntarily. There’s a bit more blackened influence between the tremolo and the symphonies; it all meshes together quite nicely. The band knows how to orchestrate without feeling overwrought in the interlude songs, but it just doesn’t work as nicely with their style of tech-death. I wished multiple times during the record they’d cut the symphonies and let the songs speak for themselves.

‘Vulture’ starts out solid enough, only for me to realize I’m not even in minute two and I feel like I’ve heard fourteen minutes of music. What this really comes down to is a pacing and trimming the fat issue. But there’s just…so much going in every song. Normally, overlong albums wouldn’t bother me, but when I keep checking how long each song has left, it’s not a good sign.

Overall, Humaniac made a disappointment. I’d be more forgiving if they were still new to the game, but this is their third album. Maybe they were trying to branch out a bit and experiment? In that case, good for them. But with trimming and better songwriting, they could make something really fantastic for album four. Right now, I can only say I’m left with just another tech-death album for the pile. 

Recommended tracks: …of 42, Childhood and Recursive Survival, Cage: Caste: Competition
You may also like: Immanifest, Mordant Rapture
Final verdict: 4/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook | Metal-Archives page
Label: Independent

Humaniac is:
– Vladim Kotov (Bass, effects, programming)
– Alexey Kotov (Guitars, vocals, effects, programming)
– Artyom Zurnadzhiev (Vocals)
– Kirill Chumachek (Drums)
– Andrey Rybakov (Guitars)