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Seance: Awakening of the gods
24/03/09 || theProphet
Few bands have released an album that has received such an amount of cum showering here on GD as Seance’s “Saltrubbed Eyes” which was released all the way back in 1993, five years before the band split up, but you knew that. Anyways, Seance has now reunited, something that I guess some people are very happy for, and now, eleven years after the break-up, we get the follow-up to “Saltrubbed Eyes”. Does it manage to uphold the legacy and satisfy the hosts of die-hard fans the band acquired with the already too much mentioned previous release?
Fuck if I know.
By that I mean that I don’t care about “Saltrubbed Eyes” that much. I’ve listened through it a couple of time but I couldn’t see what all the fellating was about. Alas, I’m perhaps not the right person to decide if “Awakening of the Gods” is a worthy successor to “Eyes”. Nevertheless, what we have here is a real solid death metal effort on its own, and I think that some of the disappointed reception this albums has gotten stems at least partially from peoples’ inability to judge “Awakening of the Gods” on its own merits. Then again, that is kinda always the case when it comes to bands you really like, so I guess its natural that the expectations were kinda high on “AOTG”.
In attempt to straighten out this quite confused appraisal, I will now delve a little deeper into the actual music here. As mentioned, “AOTG” consists of some mighty fine death metal with some highly concentrated doses of groove strewn throughout the songs. Also contained are a fuckload of nifty little melodies and licks which create a devilish and evil atmosphere around the music. You know how there’s death metal that’s just that, death metal with groovy, heavy and sometimes fast riffage? Well, you also know how some death metal aspires to sound evil as well? Think of it as comparing say, Bolt Thrower with perhaps Morbid Angel, and I think you know what I mean, despite my at the moment abysmal thoughts-to-words ability. Anyways, Seance fits into the category that aspires to create a more satanic vibe with their metal of death.
“Awakening of the Gods” sports a very good production as well, even though its close to being a little sterile at times. Lately I’ve been starting to enjoy my productions as thick and meaty and sludgy as possible and this is definitely not that, but it’s absolutely not bad by any standards, even though the snare sounds kinda dull. It is also very apparent that these guys are awesome, awesome musicians, which I guess kinda comes with the package if you’re such hardened death veterans such as these guys. The riffage is complex and the soloing is delicate, yet Seance also knows how to write good songs that feel like they are going somewhere.
All is not well however, because after about half the album we are treated to the instrumental “Flight of the Wicked”. This track is surely an amazing feat of musicianship but seriously, what the fuck kinda pointless wankery is this?! This is basically what it would sound like if Aeon or, well, Seance had written any of Manowar’s ridiculous bass solos, cause that’s just what it is. A fucking bass solo. I do not know if the band is serious with including this laughable filler bullshit, but if they are, let’s just say that Satan does not approve.
Other than that, “Awakening of the Gods” is an absolutely above decent death metal record (apart from that hideous instrumental) that deserves to be listened to at least twice by everyone who is interested in the genre. I’d even say that so far its one of the best releases this year, although that isn’t really saying anything since I haven’t really heard very much from 2009 yet. And I guess that I’ve heard about as much stuff that is better as I’ve heard worse. What I can say for certain though is that the cover art is fucking classy, and at least Seance can be proud of having one of death metal’s coolest logos ever!
“Awakening of the Gods” gets 7/10 if “Flight of the Wicked” is meant as a joke. Otherwise it gets a 6/10. Fuck it, let’s say 5/10.
- Information
- Released: 2009
- Label: Pulverised Records
- Website: Seance MySpace
- Band
- Johan Larsson: vocals, bass
- Tony Kampner: guitars
- Rille Rimfält: guitars
- Micke: drums
- Tracklist
- 01. Wasted
- 02. They
- 03. Your Time Has Come
- 04. Invocation
- 05. Flight of The Wicked
- 06. Murder
- 07. Choose Your Eternity
- 08. Forever Haunted
- 09. Revel in Death
- 10. Prisoner 666
- 11. Burn Me
