Antropofago-Æra Dementiæ

Antropofago is a band out of France that plays Death Metal. So what makes them different than all of the 1 billion (Austin Powers pose and pinky finger in mouth) Death Metal bands out there? Well, for one thing their sound is very reminiscent of Nile. OK, I am not throwing that band's name out there just to get you to listen, but instead the classic George Kollias snare is so distinct. But Antropofago is very technical. The guitarists are so fast and complement one another so well. the guitars are actually split on both the right and left channels, so you can decipher each sound, yet, blended together on both channels they sound so harmonious.

The bass is easily heard if you listen for it, but because of the poor Mastering process, there is no uhmmph!!!. OK WTF does that mean, well the guitars overpower everything. And again, this is why you don't let the guitarists control ANY aspect of the final mastering process. Either that or the sound engineer was a guitarist and his ears are so shot from years of distortion.

So yes the guitarists are very talented and technical the uhmmph that I am speaking of is because the production is not equal and the bass gets hidden behind the guitars. Again the fact that I can hear all of the instruments tells me either the songs were poorly Mastered or that there was no Mastering done. The guitar tracks sound like they were recorded on multiple channels whereas the bass just sounds like one mono track, and any sound engineer out there will know immediately what I am talking about. I am not trying to take away from the band's talent or sound, but if they want to make a better sounding release, well, then take my criticism as a learning point. The guitars overpower the drums and the vocals and after a while it gets annoying. because the guitars pierce through everything. The drummer is awesome, he is fast and technical and this is so evident with the songs, "Encounter with the Doppelgänger" "Paranoid Visions" and "Body Cell". With these two songs you really hear the technical advances and harmonies with the guitar and drums.

The vocal tracks are clear, so even without the booklet you can understand and follow the lyrics, which sometimes is difficult with other bands. The vocalist keeps the low grunts and midrange growls throughout the CD. Overdub vocal tracks remind me of Vital Remains, and this is never more evident than on, "Paranoid Visions" which is by far the best track on the CD. "Paranoid Visions" was so good that I wish this was the title track because the song AEra Dementiae actually sucked. It was boring long and did not lift me up. If their intend was to get me to almost close the CD, then they almost succeeded.

I would categorize Antropofago under Vital Remains, Nile, Krisiun style bands. Their technical blast beats really make you listen. For example, if you were at the Milwaukee Metal Fest or the Maryland Death metal show, and Antropofago was on, their music is so powerful that people would definitely stop and take notice.

"Voices" is such a beautiful track, ok I know that I sound stupid, but for a technical death metal band to play both powerful and melodic to combine both sounds and create such a harmonious battle of death metal music into euphonious sounding death metal ballet almost made me give them a 4 out of five.

"Voices" brought back memories of Dark Funeral's "My Funeral", which makes me think that these guys might be a force to contend with with their next CD, but only time will tell. For now I would only give them a 3 out of 5 guitar picks because nothing really strikes me as great or exceptional that grabs me and spits me out. Hopefully, this may be due to production and their next CD will have better production where everything is clear but at the same level. Maybe they can go back and remaster this CD at a real studio and clarify the drums and bass. Lower the guitars and get the drums away from that dull sounding compressed studio sound and more like a real set that is sitting on your back and beating you with the snare and bass beaters on your back. That would be enough to bring this CD to a 4, but for now it is a 3 out of 5 guitar picks.

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