Defective Epitaph

Scott Connor is a true artist, there is not doubt about that. When I heard that he was going to be using acoustic drums and a cello on "Defective Epitaph" I absolutely couldn't wait to hear what it would sound like. Initially I was surprised to say the least.

Perhaps Scott (aka Malefic) realized that he had dug a bit of a hole for himself. When you release a lot of records in a short period of time, people develop lofty expectations and sometimes they may even want you to fail. That seemed like the case to me with "Subliminal Genocide." Malefic's presence was everywhere and the move to Hydrahead simply pissed a bunch of people off. The album didn't seem to blow a lot of people away. Personally, I thought it was his strongest yet. You can't please everyone though.

As I mentioned earlier, I was really excited about the prospects of this record. When I first heard it, I thought it maybe wasn't finished or it was an early mix (I got an advance promo through my job.) I'll admit it, I wasn't that into it at first. I was pleased about the use of acoustic drums but they seemed to be badly played at times and not recorded all that well. The guitars seemed to suffer because of the drums too which bummed me out. Compared to "Subliminal Genocide", this record seemed utterly chaotic to me.

As the days passed and I continued to listen to the album everyday, certain qualities began to show through. In the past, Malefic would open his albums with some sort of depressive ambience. Not this time, "Defective Epitaph" pummels you from the start. Not with programmed blast beats but with violent and primitive sounding drumming. There's also a certain patience to the album. "Subliminal Genocide" opens with easily the most memorable riffs on the album but on "Defective Epitaph" some of the best parts are hidden deep in the album as if he is daring the listener to make it that far. I think Malefic wants the listener to recognize the chaos and embrace it.

"Defective Epitaph" is a harsh and tragic album but there is beauty to be found in its misery. To me, this is a negative step in the wrong direction and that's exactly what a XASTHUR fan should want.