### Prejudice: Megalomanic infest

#### 19/01/10 || Khlysty

Well, hullo, there everyone. I’m really happy to announce that Prejudice’s newest album review will be my second Belgian death metal review for GD, so would you kindly send me some Belgian pralines? No, not Brussels sprouts, you ignoramuses, ferfuckssake, just chocolates, you know? Pralines, like chocolates… Oh, fuggit.

Anyway, Prejudice members are pretty old hands in the death metal arena, seeing as the band exists since 1993 and has produced four full-lengths and two demos up till now. “Megalomanic Infest” is actually their fourth record and, having never heard (of) them until now, I cannot comment on if and how they have evolved throughout all these years, so I’ll do this review solely based on the material at hand.

What we have here are eleven tracks of what I’d call technical death metal. By this, I mean that the songs avoid linear development worse than an altar-boy avoids (or tries to avoid) the priest of his parish. Everything here changes all the time, mostly jarringly, as if the band, while in the middle of a riff, remembers some other riff and decides to play that instead of what it was playing up till then.

I know that a lot of people like this kind of music, but, me, I don’t very much, as I think that this kind of approach generally fucks things up and not in a good way. I also know that music of such complexity and general fuck-up-ness demands extreme dexterity and concentration from the band members and on that front Prejudice delivers. So, if you like calculus-derived death metal, combined with brutality, this should be your kind of poison.

The vocals are a combo of brutal death-growls and –in some of the songs- a backing Gollum-like screech and they’re pretty okay in my book. The production is as death-metalish as it should be, although I suspect there’s quite a few triggering on the bass drums (if Floody listens to this, I would like his opinion on the snare sound. Me, I ain’t sure if I like it or if it just pisses me off…).

Plus, there are a couple of acoustic passages, some sampling and whatnot, but that’s just icing on the cake. I also have to add that the songs mostly move within the three-and-a-half-minute range, with only three approaching or even exceeding the five-minute-mark, which, I think, is a good thing, since the music doesn’t overstays its welcome.

To wrap things up, I have to say that I’m not an expert on tech death. I like me “Obscura”, mainly because of its total alien-ness; I like me some Death; I like me Cynic’s “Focus”; I like me some Atheist and some older Cryptopsy; I like me some Morbido Angelo; and that’s about it. I CAN understand how demanding –compositionally and on execution- this shit can be. But, well, I ain’t sure that I like the sub-genre as a whole. So, bottom line is that if one digs tech death, one will probably dig Prejudice. Me, I’m moving to other pastures…

- Information
- Released: 2009
- Label: Sleazsy Rider Records
- Website: www.prejudice.be
- Band
- Eric: vocals
- Chris: bass, vocals
- Def: guitar
- Christophe Piette: drums (session)

- Tracklist
- 01. Improved Chaos
- 02. Exanimate
- 03. Compulsive Leech
- 04. Beneath the Flesh
- 05. Lack of Comprehension (Death cover)
- 06. Stigmatized – Impassive
- 07. Terminal
- 08. Profane
- 09. Darkened
- 10. Prejudice
- 11. Die!