Canada has had a long standing history of producing some of the darkest, weirdest, off kilter extreme metal the underground has had to offer. From legendary acts such as Gorguts and Cryptopsy to modern acts like Chthe’ilist or Adversarial, the Canadian water breeds some of the most forward thinking metal that the underground has to offer.Décryptal is no exception.
The band features members of other Canadian acts such as Outre-Tombe and Saccage; not to mention one ex Sedimentum member, which is one of my favorite Death Doom acts of the last decade.
While there is much of ‘Simulacre’ that can be compared to other varying forms of extreme music, the good (and bad, more on that later) thing about this is the replay value. There is a favorable majority of quality death metal riffage, and just enough hooks and catchy bits to keep you coming back. The rest is a mix of darker passages and blasts overlaid with tremolo guitars which intend to pummel the listener into dust, a-la older breeds of Incantation or Immolation. You can certainly hear the wide range of Death Metal knowledge these blokes have. This is a dense listen which demands many revisits to fully digest the just over 38 minute run time.
The whole album never really lets up, there are a few breaks to give you a chance to breathe (barely), but it’s quite the punishing experience. The lack of any real “traditional” song structure and darker energy makes it feel as if the listener is suffering from the same fate as the souls on the front cover of ‘Simulacre’. Persistent drumming and guitar work overlaid with traditionally styled vocals gives this whole listen alot of energy and that unrelenting energy that the elder gods of the genre relied on so heavily in the early days.
However, it’s this same characteristic that is the only real downfall of the release. Since many passages aren’t revisited and it’s more of a continual journey, there’s less to grab the listener from the jump. No strong single to keep coming back to, no catchy chorus, just a front to back dark Death Metal assault with little regard for who is listening. Many of these riffs could be lifted and dropped in place of another in a different place in the record and it would all work. Further, many of the transitions feel as if there were ideas that could have been added from a dynamic perspective to give the release more of a natural, less jarring flow between riffs and songs.
That all said, ‘Simulacre’ is a strong debut full length from yet another dark and obscure Canadian act. It was an enjoyable listen and was executed and performed with class, but faces the same lack of flow and overall dynamic that many debut records do. I hope to hear more from this act in the future as their brand of Death Metal further infects their brains.
