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May 25, 2013 |
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01. Bulletprood Scales
02. Silver Plated Advocate
03. Immaculate
04. Warm Blooded
05. Retina
06. The Sunset Will Never Charm Us
07. As Bridges Burn
08. Harvesting The Deceased
09. End This Day
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DESPISED ICON (Alex Erian/vox, Steve Marois/vox, Eric Jarrin/guitar, Yannick St. Amand/guitar, Sebastien Piche/bass, and Alex Pelletier/drums) are a self-proclaimed 'Deathcore' act hailing from Montreal Quebec, currently touring their new release via Century Media 'The Healing Process'. What is 'Deathcore' you ask? Well, in today's age of more sullen-faced 'cores' than you can shake a walletchain at, 'Deathcore' is apparently a mixture of Death Metal, Hardcore, and Grind, all mixed 'n mashed together to create a brutal and extreme 'new' hybrid of sonic mayhem aimed at reaching greater extremities than the sum of its parts. I'm gonna cut to the chase here however and state that - to my ears at any rate - the material offered on 'The Healing Process' doesn't sound a helluva lot different than about two dozen other similiar acts currently circulating in various 'this-core/that-core' stables of Metaldom.
In short, what you get here are the usual unintelligible and indiscernible ultra-deep-Cthuloid-rumble-interspersed-with-manic-Hardcore-guy-screaming vox laid o'ertop a snug bed of downtuned, disharmonic riffs and blinding, speed-of-light battery. If that doesn't mean anything to you, well then just think of pretty much any other Death-Metal-meets-Hardcore-type act you can think of (in this particular case a 'Grindier' PRO-PAIN or HATEBREED comes to mind in terms of quick comparison) and you'll have a pretty good idea of what to expect from DESPISED ICON. So I hereby award the band a - sorry - mere '5' points for at least hitting the red-zone on the 'extremity-meter'. Too bad there's little else on offer.
These guys recently played here in Vancouver alongside DEICIDE, IMMOLATION, SKINLESS and others. My review of their performance - and the show in general - was somewhat less than enthusiastic. In a nutshell, my major complaint with DI's performance was the sheer monotony of it all. I mean, really...how many almost-identically paced and structured riffs, beats, and vocal patterns can a man be expected to endure over a 45-minute period!?! How many times can one witness the same basic 'anger-and-rage-fuelled' dispositions and 'suburban-suckah' stage personas before it all starts to get just a tad predictable and tiresome!?! The sheer degree of HOSTILITY expressed was in and of itself...exhausting. With all due respect, I find myself feeling much the same in regards to DI's recorded output as well. Even at well under an hour this had me looking at my watch while surfing the tube on mute. In a word, the band's one-dimensional note of expression BORES the living you-know-what outta me.
This is, it would appear, what many within the Metal scene seem to want to hear nowadays. I however simply question: Why? Because it's 'tough guy' music. Please. Ya big, emotionally-stunted babies, you. Try something like say, DARK TRANQUILLITY by example instead. They're angry too. Thing is, they think outside of the box in how they express it. As a loooooongtime listener appreciative of many Metal ores I continue to remain baffled as to why so many of my black-T-shirted brethren continue to want ONLY such monotonous, monodrone, frankly quite underwhelming EXTREMITY as delivered by bands such as DESPISED ICON when a wider ocean of Metal expression awaits!?! Hell, even Metalcore - a subgenre I've been something of a booster of despite the fact it's getting increasingly and annoyingly trendy - appreciates a certain sense of melody with its mosh!
Here, all I'm getting is a steady, droning sort of anger-driven uber-rhythmic din that frankly seems designed specifically to harvest as many scowls from the unsuspecting listening public as humanly possible. Yeah, yeah...I know. I'm a wimp. I'm a poseur. I'm out of touch with the kids these days. True Metal is only supposed to be about anger and hate, and being BROO-TAL, blah, blah, blah...and yeah, I realize these guys are merely exploring the negative aspects of life and trying to make some sort of sense out of it all to boot, but man...maybe I AM getting old or something, because at the end of the day I really just don't find anything transcendent in any of this. If anything it more accurately seems to wallow in the very pool of angst the band would doubtless claim to be attempting to rise above. And what's the point in that? Whatever. I've said more than enough on the subject.
In closing, if you like nothing but blastbeats, heavy, downtuned riffs, the angst-driven 'urban' worldview, and guys who scream, flail, and grunt seemingly for no other reason than that they can, then check this out. I'm sure it's right up your alley. If, however, anything I've said so far has you nodding in knowing and weary understanding, then you'd probably be advised to instead do what I'm about to do which is go crack a cold one and enjoy some old MAIDEN and PRIEST. 'Nuff said!
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