Defective Epitaph

Xasthur is a hard band to review. Malefic is an extremely gifted artist, but he lacks some control at times. Many are quick to judge a band who has released 12 pieces in the past 3 years. I would have to say Malefic does put out a lot of shit, and a lot of similar sounding stuff, but he also puts our a lot of great stuff. Thankfully Defective Epitaph is something new. While it's an obvious Xasthur release, and sounds similar to other releases of his it is also very different in it's own right.


If you're new to Xasthur here's the band in a nutshell. Depressive, dense, ethereal black metal that contains usually a rough production and relies mostly on a wall of guitars and keyboards. This is atmospheric music, expect to feel it rather than listen.


The album starts off at full force, which was a nice surprise. There is no shitty intro, in fact there is not one crappy interlude on this album. The album flows extremely well, no mid album intros that Funeral of Being was plagued with. Along with the great structure i think this is the first time Malefic is playing the drums which is an extremely welcomed change.


Defective Epitaph has the best production of any Xasthur release. It is not clogged like Subliminal Genocide, and it is not thin and empty like The Funeral of Being. Each instrument is given the perfect amount of 'spotlight.' The guitar is not drowned out and lost as mere fuzz in the background, but rather it retains melody and density similar to that on To Violate The Oblivious, yet somehow a lot darker.
I feel a problem some Xasthur releases suffer is how the instruments clash with one another and the melodies become lost and congested. Defective Epitaph does a great job of melding each aspect of the 'band' perfectly. It's still dense and atmospheric as fuck, but it's distinguishable.


Each instrument is played and recorded perfectly. The guitars are not indistinguishable fuzz and the keyboards are not obnoxious and overbearing(like with Telepathic). Both the keyboard and the Guitars are responsible for the melodies; yet they never conflict. The keyboards are not cheesy and overdone like they were on previous releases, yet they are dark and sinister; deep and fitting. The guitar plays some great melodies, as well as builds up and maintains the atmosphere. The dominance of melody is traded off seamlessly from guitar to keys and vice versa. The vocals are perfect, Malefic's howls are unmatched. The distorted and 'wailing' quality they contain is chilling. Probably the best change Malefic has made are the drums on this album. I am almost positive the drums are real on this album, they sound great. While sloppy at times, the drums being real is such a big plus that i am willing to give this album an additional 10% just for real drums.


This album flows perfectly. Each song is extremely dense and moody and ties into the one next to it. Most of the album is mid paced, there are sections where Malefic whips out a blast beat and some nice foot work. Even the interludes (Unblessed Be, Dehumanizing Procession, and Purgatory Spiral) are great, in fact Dehumanizing Procession might be my favorite track. The only song i dislike and i feel like is worth skipping is Legacy Of Human Irrelevance, but even so it's not that bad, i just feel the drums are mixed too high on it.


Overall this might be one of Xasthur's best albums, it's a great place of newbies to begin and a very solid Xasthur release(which is a hard thing to come by). Xasthur is band that seems to put out too much for its own good, so don't be close minded when giving this album a try. This is a pick for '07 and a great album for any BM fan, or fan of atmospheric music.