Initializing Irreversible Process

To the uninitiated, death metal would seem the least likely style for a band seeking after sophistication, but if experience teaches anything, it is that over time trends are bucked and traditions do indeed evolve. The craze with greater technical prowess among outfits on the more brutal end of the spectrum that was originally spearheaded by the likes of Suffocation and Cryptopsy has led to a correspondingly elaborate take on lyrics, as the more primitive of modern outfits have taken to expanding their forensic terminology horizons to include some certifiable mouthfuls in song titles alone, and the technical end of things has seen far more philosophical road being paved alongside the assorted imagery of Sci-Fi and horror. It is on the technical and broad-based messaging side of the spectrum where the recently formed Italian outfit Deceptionist falls, and their debut album Initializing Irreversible Process hits all the bases of a frenzied journey through the dystopian realm of technology turning on its masters.

As far as technical albums with a brutal edge go, this is along the lines of a well-rounded modern answer to the question originally posed back in the first half of the 90s when the style was developed. It bears a good deal in common with Necrophagist and Decrepit Birth, though it takes a somewhat more restrained and measured approach to guitar soloing compared to the former and lacks the quirky progressive twists of the latter. It definitely plays up the Sci-Fi end of things with an assortment of sampled sounds and speeches, including some material from John Carpenter's They Live and The Matrix between the unrelenting soup of speed drumming and traveling riff sets. The songs are generally short to moderate in length, with "When Humans Begin to Be Machines" being the longest yet having no less of a bewildering degree of furious drumming than the shortest song on here.

On any album where technical ability is the chief staple, there needs to be an anchor that holds noodling between instruments together, and here there are actually several. The biggest element of constancy is vocalist Andrea Di Traglia, who possesses a fairly one-dimensional deep end bark that is a dead-ringer for latter day Cannibal Corpse, which provides a nice contrast from the sort of schizophrenic mishmash of harsh voice types that was inspired by Lord Worm. Trailing not too far behind is the lead guitar work, which is surprisingly idiomatic and has a sort of beautiful singing quality to it amid the mess of raging ideas, and adds a little bit of a Scar Symmetry-influenced element of consonant melodic flavor into an otherwise dissonant blend of wandering notes and percussive hits from the rhythm section. The production quality itself is also fairly dense and caters quite well to the occasional ambient samples that are thrown in to up the Sci-Fi feel of things, in contrast to the often wholly percussive quality that goes with an impact-based style.

This is a very solid and engaging listen for an album styled along the lines of something that could be often compared to Chinese food, ergo something that tastes good going down but doesn't stick with the consumer. It has a slightly greater degree of staying power compared to the seminal works of Epitaph and Diminishing Between Worlds, but it generally falls into a similar trap of being so loaded up with chaotic note sets and hyper-paced drum and bass work that its structural nature comes off as illusive. It's definitely something that fans of bands like Arsis and Brain Drill will like, though it definitely comes off as less excessive than the latter of said bands. It's an overall decent listen that doesn't go as overboard on technical showboating, but it could stand to have a greater sense of symmetry and cadence to make it easier to grab hold of so that it is not as mysterious as the real world is to dreaming slave out of The Matrix comics depicted on the cover.