### The Denial: Claws

#### 08/08/11 || The Duff

Sometimes you have to wonder why the fuck bands ever bother, and here we are with The Denial of all things – when you shoot from hardcore/Disturbed (maybe?) to thrash to Soilwork to “The Red in the Sky is Ours”-era At the Gates in the space of three tracks yet somehow make it sound as charming as post-“Roots” Sepultura, it’s time to get out of the kitchen because the bolognese sauce is roasting your nuts and the raw garlic is in your vagina and the red chili pepper is up your bum! Some say we never grow out of our childhood manner, and I can’t tell you how much writing that sentence tickled my fancy, but what I’m trying to say is that some bands lost their placing before they even began.

The Denial hail from Italy and cite influences such as Meshuggah, Death, Hypocrisy, At the Gates and Slayer; the bulk of their sound is more than anything “Slaughter of the Soul”-era At the Gates, but not in the “Oh, they play Swedish melodic death metal” manner, rather in an exact clone without the riffs sense. Oh joy be upon us. To give the band some credit, “Claws” is an entertaining listen in a rather pitiful way that offers nothing of value other than a breakaway from absolutely every other album I’ve listened to once too many times. That and Lord K will literally eat my testicles raw if I don’t get this one in the can; The Denial have waited a year or two for this review and I’m hoping all’s running smoothly with their expectations.

The production is like a glossed over “Slaughter of the Soul” in that you don’t get the finesse or crunch of most Swedodeath productions, this sounding quite murky in a too well-oiled sense, but you do get the well-toned and slick – whoever did this sure as shit ain’t Fredrik Nordström. The riffs are bland, no real depth, the musicianship is rehearsed but unfortunately little else, the vocals raspy when not shifting to the most hilarious of clean singing (“Let the Emptiness Prevail” – English not being their native language), all said and done The Denial have lost nothing in my opinion not being posted in so long – I wouldn’t advise anyone to pursue this band, and now that said please send us hatemail in true Italian fashion, preferably as sound files and in English.

- Information
- Released: 2008
- Label: Hurricane
- Website: The Denial MySpace
- Band
- Giuseppe Falcicchio: vocals
- Giuseppe Simone: guitars, keys and samples
- Teo Berloco: guitars
- Antonio Patella: bass
- Michele Ciccimarra: drums

- Tracklist
- 01. Claws
- 02. Domain – Deceit
- 03. Let The Emptiness Prevail
- 04. The Despised Ones
- 05. Hands of the Betrayer
- 06. No Longer Enslaved
- 07. Serpents March
- 08. Soundtrack to Apocalyptic Visions
- 09. Nanoman