PsychoTransNymphomania

"PsychoTransNymphomania" is the only thing Hedonistic Exility have released since their debut EP Deevolutional Stasis, which was a relatively cool pile of Viraemia-like hyperwank compounded with some heavy-as-balls deathcore breakdowns and pacing. This short song seems to be the only sequel we'll get for the foreseeable future, but unfortunately, it... isn't quite on the same level of quality.

The song opens with a flat, rather boring deathcore breakdown reminiscent of something from mid-era Emmure, then moves on to the song's main riff. It's pretty clear right off the bat that the band don't want to just create pure self-indulgent noodling anymore - the intensity of the overall performance is compromised for the sake of this one melodic and maudlin riff that sounds kind of like Arsis on steroids - maybe like Son of Aurelius, I guess? Anyway, the song shifts around a bit, plays a few more breakdowns, makes a few variations on its central melody, then ends. Honestly, it'd be easiest for me to just talk about what annoys me about this: for one, production-wise, this has very little of the impact that the band's previous EP did. The guitars feel much flatter and less crisp, and the vocals are somewhat too loud. I guess it makes sense that they wouldn't try to polish up a single like they would with a more fleshed-out release, but it's still rather disappointing.

Furthermore, this is a bit too breakdown-heavy for my tastes, and the breakdowns used are rather irritating. They're mostly just weak staccato chugs, occasionally with small, irritating bursts of wank (I guess you'd call it "vermicelli") stacked on top. But the biggest fault, by far, is the general shift from outrageous, absurdly intense noodling tech-death to a more restrained, melody-centric approach that doesn't really please anybody. This is too melodic for... well, I was going to say "tech-death snobs like me", but I'm pretty sure I'm the only tech-death snob to ever exist. Tech-death fans have to be the easiest demographic to please, ever. Anyways, it's too melodic for me, and Arsis fans will think its more brutal moments are too intense, so in its current state it's rather useless. Oh, but one last note: the vocal performance on this song is actually pretty great, and a slight improvement from the debut. The growls are thick and powerful; like most deathcore-influenced things nowadays, there's a detectable Phil Bozeman influence in that they sound more like a deep and gravelly roar than a traditional death metal growl, but they're very well-executed. Also, no more annoying pig squeals!

I don't hate this, but it's a considerable drop in quality in almost every regard compared to Deevolutional Stasis. Feel free to skip over this.