### Dementia Senex: Heartworm

#### 31/07/13 || Pr0nogo

Boy, I sure love it when a promo’s metadata is all kinds of fucked up. Such is the case with the latest release from Italian metal outfit Dementia Senex. Let me take the time to talk about yet another thing I despise about music: the overuse of subgenres. Such actions, when merited, can be useful, but by and large it’s simply an irritant. Why, Dementia Senex, did you label yourselves as ‘experimental death metal/metalcore’? What warrants the ‘experimental’ tag? Is it the inclusion of two genres? That’s not experimental, that’s just having two genres. Dickwads.

“Heartworm”, the band’s second EP and the subject of this lovely little stub, is overall an average extreme metal release, complete with the standard overly-downtuned guitars and overprocessed production that backfires and just washes everything out. I do a bit of audio engineering for vocals and voice acting, so I understand what they were going for here, but the production amplifies the backing guitar way too much and ends up drowning out the lead guitar. I can’t accurately review something if I can’t hear it, so that’s where my discussion of the guitars end, save a simple description of the sound: it’s the typical -core chugging and some high notes here and there to act as a lead (which, again, you can’t FUCKING HEAR). The drum fills seem to serve no purpose other than having the bass pedals slam in key with the chugging, making it even louder than it was as a result of the production. Aside from that, you might hear some hat hits, but I think it was all improvisation because the drummer wanted to do more than sit around and play with his feet. Hand the poor feller a guitar or something. Maybe he’ll be better off. The vocals are an annoying composition of high screams and low growls that I’ve heard a billion times before, and don’t really offer anything to the mix beyond simply having a vocalist.

All of these factors result in “Heartworm” being completely average. And dull. And boring.

3/10: Not worth anyone’s time.

Listen here.