The Malefic: Chapter III

Supergroups have a tendency to be either jaw-droppingly amazing or unbelievably terrible, but Nader Sadek is one of the few that are simply bland. By way of ex-Mayhem guitarist Rune Eriksen, Nader Sadek (the man, not the band) has cooked up another serving of average modern Morbid Angel riffs, characterised by coiling tremolos and heaving, sluggy low-end chords, albeit without the thick atmosphere of impending apocalypse that pervaded Gateways to Annihilation. Following his stint in Morbid Angel, Steve Tucker's earthy roar was naturally an excellent fit on the debut In the Flesh...unfortunately this leaves Travis Ryan in a tough spot, as although noone else can possibly hope to fill his role in Cattle Decapitation's mind-warping chaos, he's simply out of place in a relatively tame affair like this. Most of Flo Mounier's outrageous flamboyance has been lost with age (never mind the fact that there are now plenty of drummers who can equal or even outdo him), but it's come to the point where you can't really tell it's him behind the drumkit anymore.

The only improvement over In the Flesh is that the instruments no longer seem to bleed into each other during the faster moments. With the added ounce of clarity, the guitars are no longer dominated by Mounier, and are given a lot more room to breathe (it's like None So Vile all over again). Descent, which occupies over a third of the EP's duration, is actually a very good attempt at injecting some dynamics and atmosphere into the equation, making heavy use of Ryan's unmistakeable theatrical singing, though it does take the easy way out by using a fadeout. If this EP is any indication of Sadek's upcoming material, I can't say I have very high hopes, though I suppose it'll still be better than whatever goth-industrial garbage Azagthoth and Vincent decide to shit out.