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Malignancy: Eugenics
11/10/12 || jaimeviejo
Wikipedia says that “Eugenics is the applied science or the bio-social movement which advocates the use of practices aimed at improving the genetic composition of a population”; I’m sure the members of this band have been part of the Eugenics program for a while now because they are genetically metal music beasts.
I don’t really want to talk only about the musicianship in this album, but to me in some metal genres, like Brutal Tech Metal, the musicianship is as important as the songwriting, and what we have here is some of the best Pornography Metal, an album that most of the time is successful because of the musicianship and the other half of the time because it has great ideas and tight songwriting.
There is a little bit more variation in this album than in “Inhuman Grotesqueries”. We hear more slow and catchy slam inspired riffs through the album, but as a whole it doesn’t really offer anything new besides some subtle changes: the production is punchier and fuller with more presence of the bass which even has some solo spots to shine through the album; the drums sound very good and it is refreshing to hear real sounding drums instead of annoying triggered drums. The songwriting in “Eugenics” is more chaotic and reminds me of Cephalic Carnage in a couple of spots.
This is the kind of album that creates debates such as: how much more brutal can something get? We are not talking distortion based brutality, bass drops and breakdowns, but heavy incredible musicianship brutality. Malignancy is a band that is worth listening to just for the drumming. Mike Heller here is as usual, on fire, going from blast beats, odd time signatures, groovy syncopated patterns to slow doom inspired beats, he covers everything that a metal drummer dreams about. He really knows how to interact with the ride cymbal and the hi hat creating some tasty fusion breaks. The only problem with his drumming is that he doesn’t spend enough time playing the same groove, and it is a shame because there are some really sick and catchy riffs in the album that could be more impressive together with a solid groove behind them instead of random blasting.
The guitar playing of Ron Kachnic is excellent too, but a little bit buried in the mix when the riffs get crazy. And now listen: if you like pinch harmonics, you need to get this album; There is an average of thirty pinch harmonics per song, except in song eight where there are only ten; that means there are around two hundred and seventy pinch harmonics in thirty two minutes of minutes of music, but hey, I’m not complaining, who doesn’t love pinch harmonics?
The vocals don’t add anything new to the table, same rabid dog guttural vocals, with the exception of few high screams here and there that add more variation, like in the grind inspired “Monstruous Indiference”.
“Type Zero Civilization” is one of the best songs in the album, and resumes perfectly what we are going to find for the next thirty two minutes. “Cataclysmic Euphoria” is another great song that proves again how good these guys are at playing, and at times they sound like an “on speed” version of Blotted Science. “Separatists” has an epic fusion inspired beginning that echoes the intro of Cryptopsy’s “Cold Hate Warm Blood” but that vanishes after a minute to begin the butchery again. The solo at the end of the song is a nice touch that serves as the icing of the cake to the best song in the album.
After five years, this is a very solid album with no flaws, besides the repetition of some structures and beats, or the at times monotonous vocals, that I’m sure the fans of the band are going to enjoy as much as I did. “Eugenics” is not a masterpiece, it is not gonna change the world, but it has earned the right to be the best Malignancy album to date and one of the best Brutal Tech Metal albums this year. Well done Malignancy!
- Information
- Released: 2012
- Label: Willowtip
- Website: Malignancy MySpace
- Band
- Danny Nelson: vocals
- Ron Kachnic: guitars
- Roger J. Beaujard: bass
- Mike Heller: drums
- Tracklist
- 01. Type Zero Civilization
- 02. Eugenics
- 03. Extinction Event
- 04. Global Systemic Collapse
- 05. Cataclysmic Euphoria
- 06. Separatists
- 07. Monstrous Indifference
- 08. Cryptobiosis
- 09. Creatures of Conformity
- 10. The Breach
