Beneath the Massacre Albums (2)
What The Critics Say
What is up with those French Canadian death metal bands and their proclivity toward impossibly technical death metal? Montreal's Beneath the Massacre are just the latest upstarts to follow in the bootsteps of influential giants Gorguts, Cryptopsy, Kataklysm, and Neuraxis (to name but a few) -- cue the group's sophomore full-length, 2008's Dystopia. Let's be clear now: this is not necessarily a knock on Beneath the Massacre's chosen m.o. so much as a frank advisory to extreme metal fans about the predominantly cerebral nature of the band's music, which is rife with daunting instrumental accomplishment. And yes, the omnipresent Cookie Monster vocals of Elliot Desgagnés guarantee a certain amount of inherent savagery throughout, even in the face of the machine-like precision practiced by the rarely wavering double kick-drums of Justin Rouselle or systematic lead shredder Christopher Bradley. Still, the latter's head-spinning array of finger exercises frequently supplant actual guitar riffing on many of these tracks (see "Condemned," "Reign of Terror," and "Lithium Overdose" for prime examples), and his solos tend to sound structured and disciplined rather than "felt." ~ Eduardo Rivadavia, All Music Guide
'Mechanics of Dysfunction'
Release Date 2/20/2007
Tracks 10
Label Prosthetic
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
You know those random phrase generators some websites have, where you press a button and a mad-lib phrase appears? The concept has been modified to create various styles of band names and album titles over the years. And now it's apparently been applied to the band name and album title of Mechanics of Dysfunction by Beneath the Massacre, which sound like they were generated by a death metal phrase generator. The ten songs themselves don't deviate from death metal expectations, from the Cookie Monster vocals to the double-time drumming to the faux-shocking song titles, although an untitled minute-long track at the album's midpoint features a crash-cymbal loop overlaid with a stuttering start-stop guitar line that was almost certainly played on a keyboard-controlled sampler. ~ Stewart Mason, All Music Guide
