loading...
??? - 0%
Claims that a previous reviewer is personally biased against this album led me to give it a listen and review it. It is quite out of the ordinary for an international record label to release a "best of" compilation for a band while their frontman is only 14 years old.
Rancid Entity stumble their way through nearly half an hour of poorly recorded, poorly composed noise that doesn't really register as any specific type of music, though the rasps seem to indicate that it might be black metal. It sounds like a typical pre-teen band where they have figured out power chords, but still have no idea how to phrase or color their music. This is effectively some kids hitting instruments and calling it music. It sounds like a kid got a starter guitar and an amp with minimal distortion, heard Mayhem's "Deathcrush", then proceeded to imitate it. I don't think the band is even old enough to blame being drunk for the incompetent musicianship.
This release hits depressive depths when they manage to butcher Venom's "In League With Satan" through thoroughly incapable musicianship. It starts out with a few people cheering, then someone dedicates the next song to the pope and announces the song's name (seriously), then a drum beat, the vocalist drawling along, and a distant twang of a clean guitar that doesn't sound like it's playing the same song. This isn't a rough performance like Venom, this is a few kids who literally do not know how to play their instruments. I'm not sure if there's even a guitar here, or just a bass on the other side of the room. I won't even start on the Carpathian Forest cover.
If it weren't for the rasps and the announcements that they're covering metal bands, this would be indiscernable from a typical pre-teen rock band that you might suffer through at your middle school's talent show. Based on the live recordings, roughly half a dozen people probably did suffer through this at a middle school talent show. In true rock star fashion of going out on top, this band has split up at the ripe age of fourteen. Yeah, I can hear you laughing.
If anyone in the band reads this, we have a musicians forum on the site where you can get some tips on learning to play your instruments, putting together songs, and picking up tips on different styles of metal.
Sloppy, at best. - 0%
I really don't understand what precisely drives one-man-bands. With all due respect to their musical capacity; often times; the listener is left with a dull, uninspired and poorly produced effort (which strangely has appeared as a compilation after having only been active for one year) which Rancid Entity has offered to the general populace. Although it doesn't seem so much appropriate to even say that. Some bands, particularly black metal bands; are capable of being able to conquer the barrier of being unlistenable rubbish and cheap Norwegian knock-offs. Unfortunately, this is not the case - and I must beseech you - the listener - to hear my plea.
The compilation samples 8 tracks found recorded earlier in the year and you can clearly tell that no effort has been made to refine them. Down tuned guitar riffs come out in an agonisingly crispy quality, which stays bizarrely uneven throughout the tracks, only gaining somewhat greater clarity during the live cover of Venom's 'In League With Satan'. However, this said; the true skill of our one-man-band (turned 4-piece) becomes evident, as the live performance suffers from serious timing issues, the bass amp being inappropriately quiet (which suggests to me that there was not so many people present at the live show) and the drums failing to do proud the original version. It honestly doesn't sound like they're taking this seriously, and is more akin to a group of schoolchildren. Rancid Entity are NOT a live band, this is definitely sure.
The 2 covers performed for a true recording sample the popular black metal bands - Mayhem and Carpathian Forest. The benefits of a cover usually confirms to the listener that the experience will have been the challenge for the musician involved to improve upon what the original artist has established. But, this is tragically not the case. The songs are savagely butchered (and not in a pleasant fashion) by the god-awful and simultaneously Satan-awful guitar quality, in a supreme overkill of the traditional black metal DIY aspect that inspired many to record within basements. This sounds like Rancid Entity were playing inside a fridge. Don't ask how they got the drums in there, I'll get to that.
The instrumental 'Hymn to Depression' shows Rancid Entity's appreciation for Forgotten Tomb - by being a near copy of 'Springtime Depression' from the album of the same name. I am unable to feel any sorrow, anguish or despair due to this track aside from knowing that it has been raped ot its rightful owner. Moving on, we get to 'Armageddon'; here; riffs ascend and descend in a one verse pattern. Rancid Entity aren't doing a fantastic job in producing anything new in the black metal scene, having gone back to basics without any sort of 'classic' feel. Solos are absent, showing a lack of creativity on what could do with some to at least grant some weak variation. Furthermore, this generic and distasteful pattern has tainted the 5 original tracks by Rancid Entity featured on this compilation. Alas, this makes for something which as soon as you turn on, you'll want to turn off.
And now we reach the true dark abyss of this epitaph of Rancid Entity, and quite frankly - the reason I'm glad they're gone. The drums. Programmed to produce the same snare sound and delivering THE VERY SAME BLAST, OVER AND OVER AGAIN - Drowning out the guitar and its terrible noise to deliver its own brand of computer generated faeces. Rather than creating a war-like atmosphere, the overall production and lack of consolidation results in a half-assed sounding attempt to be 'KVLT'. The vocals also permeate the ears in an agonising fashion, the vocalist 'Lord Andras' having created his powerful screech through falsification; wait for the first scream to know that the gain on his microphone is pretty much up to the max. The bass on the compilation falls into the usual section of 'invisible', although I expected that much from a 33 copy-limited CD from a band that released its entire discography 3 times before actually compiling it into this bland mess. When audible, you can hear it playing along with the guitar; a poor technique.
In conclusion; if anything; beware one-man-bands. I have faith in some artists such as Nortt and Funeral Mourning, never pushing the bar to go for a live performance, probably due to the expectation that if they asked other members to play with them - it could always go down the 'painful live' route that Rancid Entity have shamelessly followed. It is my current understanding that 'they' (one man) have split after less than a year in 'formation', and quite frankly; good riddance.