Names are everything in Death Metal. So choosing one to best reflect the preferred brand of pneumatic skullfuckery can be just as important as the music itself at the beginning.
If it can be found in medical textbooks or horror films then you can usually assume the listening experience will be a messy one while words or phrases found in Latin research notes, the bible, or a thesaurus under headings like “morbid” usually suggests a more evil exchange.
So what of Italian act Spiritual Deception then? At first glance another generic adjective + noun combo likely to mean music of the same nature. But then you discover it’s actually taken from a theory forwarded by Danish philosopher Søren Aabye Kierkegaard and a different kind of light is cast entirely.
A field of ethics based upon the theory that nothing can be defined as good or bad due to that determination being reliant on the individual’s own perspective – therefore there is no objective truth – is probably not where most people’s imaginations will lead them initially but there you go.
All of this plus a lyrical fascination with history, literature and astronomy makes full-length debut Semitae Mentis (Amputated Vein Records) arguably the most fascinating, imaginative and brutal rug pull of the year so far.
Translated roughly to “path of the mind”, this journey into abstract existentialism begins with the dark piano and choral vocals of “The I Swells… (Decadence Pt. I)”, a moody intro which abruptly ends with a frighteningly sudden burst of chugs, roars and slow grinding doom.
“Atavic Future (Decadence Pt. II)” follows, spidery guitar work combining with thunderous chugging, impressive sweep picking and lurking chorals, the song’s many time changes and occasional discordancy sounding like Nile butting heads with Imperial Triumphant.
Featuring a nerve-jarring guitar sound probably best described as Satan’s alarm clock, the beautifully spasmodic “The Days of Sleep (Decadence Pt. III)” and the insanity-inducing “Beyond Perception and Matter” bewilder with their schizophrenic riffing and Jazz breaks.
By this time you’re probably thinking why hasn’t Gorguts been mentioned? This is pretty much their thing isn’t it? Well, yes it is and a guest spot from guitarist Luc Lemay during the uncompromisingly complex “Dirac Sea” proves that quite nicely.
After the gentle interlude of “The Night Opens”, Satan’s alarm clock returns for “On the Edge of the Abyss”, a swarming mindfuck occasionally broken up by monolithic slabs of crushing heaviness. “Thousand Lives Within” is pure Egyptian wrath-of-the-gods type stuff so it comes as no surprise to find Nile main man Karl Sanders has joined the party.
Penultimate cut “Individuality Dissolves” swirls, flows and surges before the album culminates in a terminal case of experimental-death-metal-multiple-personality-disorder with the barbed wire riffs, pneumatic drums, spoken-word narration and discordant atonality of “…To the Coldest Decline (Decadence Pt. IV)”.
Boasting first rate musicianship and a powerful production, Semitae Mentis spews wave after wave of brain-pulverising noise offset by creeping menace and piercing jabs of atonal ferocity. An often disorienting dive into a maelstrom of death metal madness. With philosophy added at no extra charge.
Buy the album here:
https://spiritualdeception.bandcamp.com/album/semitae-mentis-2
9 / 10
GARY ALCOCK