Genres: symphonic brutal death metal (harsh vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Nile, Inferi, Hate Eternal, Gorguts
Country: Italy
Release date: 9 February 2024
It’s not every day that I come upon debut releases with features from both Luc Lemay and Karl Sanders of Gorguts and Nile fame, respectively. When I saw those names listed as features, I was immediately intrigued, but when I heard the alluring solo piano that begins this album, I was hooked and chose to pick it up for review. Thankfully, that piano continues to weave silky and snappy melodies throughout the album’s runtime, and combined with the incessant midi choir, it pushes Spiritual Deception’s standard brutal death metal fare replete with endless blast beats and blistering, difficult-to-discern riffage towards something more melodic and progressive, although summed up by the band as simply “symphonic.”
For most listeners, it will be the melodic content of this album that is the most immediately accessible, remaining so throughout repeated listens. The aforementioned piano is nigh ever-present creating eerie atmosphere and sneaking into key moments to juxtapose heavy-handed rhythmicity with tinkling subtlety. It also provides some levity to the dirge of buzzing guitars that–on par for this style of brutal death metal–rarely venture much higher than the fifth fret save for during solos, which actually provide some notable melodic content themselves. Always appropriately techy, nearly every solo finds it in its conscience to lean off the gas for at least a moment to provide an earworm or two, making each that much more engaging; the solos of “Thousand Lives Within” and “The Days of Sleep” particularly still rattle around in my head. This strong attention to melody even extends to interlude “The Night Opens” which sees the successful introduction of acoustic guitar and cello to the established formula of buzzy chugs and trems and ceaseless blast beats, making this interlude one of the better tracks on Semitae Mentis even if only as a brief reprieve from its more mundane and monotonous elements.
And, unfortunately, those elements are rather common. The guitar tone leaves a lot to be desired with its muddy buzz that leaves all lower ranged riffs–which comprise the vast majority–harmonically incomprehensible. The tone does emphasize the rhythm of the riffs however, but even that element isn’t very impressive, instead content to tread the well worn paths of bands like Hate Eternal and Nile. The attitude around the guitar tone extends into the general production leaving the whole thing generally unpleasant to listen to–although not impossible to get used to–since it can be difficult to pick out the genuinely good bits from the muck that surrounds them, leaving the whole thing sounding amateurish. Already, I’ve touched on the monotony of the midi choir which finds its way into every song, always panned subtly to the left and never providing more than a mere air of symphonicism, something already fulfilled by other instruments. It’s as though the choral elements were simply tacked on just to earn that “symphonic” moniker, and the album suffers for it. If the time spent on the choir had instead been spent refining the guitar tones and on a better mix/master, you’d likely be reading a very different review.
Semitae Mentis reaches some stellar highs thanks to its clever introduction of piano to brutal death metal in a manner that doesn’t feel tacked on as much as it feels integral, but those highs are built upon a shaky foundation that ultimately sees the album crumbling as it stretches into its back half, where each song feels like a rehash of something heard prior; not even the nine-minute closer “…To the Coldest Decline” with its recalled motifs and epic scope could draw me back in. I must commend Spiritual Deception for what they achieved with Semitae Mentis as it is certainly a strong proof of concept for what I would want to hear on subsequent releases if they are to come albeit with much improved production and a just as strong emphasis on the melodic elements.
Recommended tracks: Beyond Perception and Matter, The I Swells…, …To the Coldest Decline
You may also like: Equipoise, Stortregn, Resin Tomb
Final verdict: 6.5/10
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook | Instagram | Metal-Archives page
Label: Amputated Vein Records – Bandcamp | Facebook
Spiritual Deception is:
– Mirko Frontini (vocals, guitars)
– Manuel Del Giudice (drums)
– Riccardo Maccarana (guitars)
– Billy Repalam (bass)
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