Splenium for Nyktophobia

Uncanny's "Splenium For Nyktophobia" is a pretty good death metal CD, but it would be an overstatement to say this is a "brilliant" album, or even a relatively memorable one. If you're like me, and you can't get enough of "old school" death metal, this album is certainly a worthy addition to the collection, but if you are looking for something that, at the end of the day, will feel like a "lost gem", you are probably in the wrong place.

The closest point of reference for Uncanny's music would be Desultory, whose music, quite frankly, is more prolific for a reason! Like Desultory, these guys have managed to avoid most of the cliches of the Swedish death metal scene, with some occasional curveballs thrown in for good measure (some quasi-technical riffs appear here and there throughout the album)...but the songwriting is simply not there. A lot of this stuff sounds very confusing...and while some bands, like Seance, can use that as an asset, it makes me think that Uncanny are really not all that special of a band in the first place. While the band is talented and the riffs are there (the vocals are also very good)...there is no moment of this album that feels very definitive or like it stands above the other songs. While there is nothing bad about it...in fact, it's all fairly good...it just doesn't come across as powerful enough to become a "death metal classic" as it were.

So there's the "normal" material on this album. Then, you get to the experimental shit. There are two random, seemingly out of place death-punk tunes on this album (one of which is a cover - can't remember which, though), both with Swedish lyrics. Both of them are pretty stupid. I hate punk music, and while I respect these guys for paying tribute to their influences...it just sucks. Then, you get the closer...which is one of those annoying "outro" tracks which is in a totally different style from the rest of the CD. Those can be done right (Brutality and Morbid Angel) but this one is literally so stupid and cheesy that listening to it will make you laugh hysterically. Then...you get to the worst song on the entire disc..."Lepra". I have no idea what the fuck this was supposed to be. It sounds like the blueprint for Morbid Angel's "Illud Divinum Insanus"!! Just an awful piece of industrial-death garbage that is damn-near laughable! A drum machine was used...pitch-shifted vocals...any dedicated death metal listener will reach for the skip button as soon as this shit appears...

All in all, this is an interesting album, but not one that is even remotely essential. It's just "another old school death" album...as a hardened fan of this style, I rarely ever find myself pulling this one out of the CD shelf. It's just "there"...I'd suggest you pass on this one, but what do I know, eh?