### Mass Obliteration: Abrahamithic curse

#### 11/01/08 || Kampfar

Italia is no extreme metal haven, they have their share of quality bands, I know, but it’s not the first scene I would have looked into if I were a metal agent on the lookout for talent to loot. It could be because of this very attitude we haven’t heard too many pissed off Italian bands as of yet, but I doubt it, ‘cause it is a known fact Italian men tend to live with their moms, and dads, if not divorced or dead, till they are like 30, which in turn makes them create shitty lots of prog-rock/metal music. There’s a reason for ya.

Mass obliteration hints towards chaos, violence and death. Hell, I would go as far and proclaim their name to be a fucking promise. Sadly these fuckwits break that promise. So severe I think Suffocation should sue their asses for not paying honor to the song they nicked the name from. But they could never sue them for ripping off their sound. Now that’s for fucking sure.

Progressive death metal is the name of the game here, the barely hanging together variant, and though I admit to have heard worse examples, it’s evident that them here Italians put their lips around too much of a stallion. I start with the drummer who doesn’t sound connected with the music whatsoever; pure mind, no heart, not very talented to being with. Some of the blame can be handed over to the production, utterly failing in making him a part of the orchestra, but he still needs to practice a lot, so that he can relax and maybe put a sparkle of creativity into his performance. It’s easy for me to imagine this Luca with a frenzied stare, sweating like a pig to nail even the easiest of hits.

The guitarist needn’t smirk ‘cause his Katzenjammer solos are the suck, none with even an ounce of emotion put into them. Lack of skills is to blame. He is more than preoccupied getting even a sound out of his rack, so don’t bother asking if he could make it sound good in the process. And the riffs aren’t like nailed with perfection either, except for a couple of times that is.

Literally, oh so literally.

There is quite some suckage on “Abrahamitic curse,” obviously, and there is more, like the insecure and wobbly bass truncating, but at least the vocals aren’t shit. Fucking boring, mediocre at best, but Andrea (cute name) is unlike the rest (and himself) able to put some emotion into his effort. But first and foremost it would be a treat to watch this guy playing bass and doing growls/vocals at the same time. It sounds like he does so on “AC” but I doubt it, and can therefore only imagine what a mess he would make of it if he were to perform on stage. Footage much appreciated.

A sloppy band with high ambitions coupled with a production making them sound not like a band but a group of people accidentally playing instruments in the same room is not a recipe for success whatever music you may intend to play. Oh, except for free jazz. I can think of two metal moments and one prog bit which I would consider a success on the whole of this EP, the rest is more or less a band struggling not to disintegrate.

Allegedly it is a bunch of young guns I’m dealing with here, how young I do not know, but several reviews have made a mention of it, so I reckon there is some to it. I didn’t dig into this info before I had close to wrapped up this pile of shit, and I’m too lazy to moderate myself now. Thing is, I’m still not very impressed, but if they practice like real fucking hard and in addition buy some self insight and adjust their ambition level accordingly to their skills, fuck knows what could happen.

Bottomline: Practice, practice, practice, practice, practice and more practice.

- Information
- Released: 2007
- Label: Nah
- Website: Mass Obliteration MySpace
- Band
- Andrea: vocals, bass
- Mariano: guitar
- Luca: drums

- Tracklist
- 01. Shrine Of The I Pt 1
- 02. Supremacy
- 03. From Beyond
- 04. Shrine Of The I Pt 2
- 05. Balls Torture For Preachers
- 06. Eudaimonion
- 07. Shrine Of The I Pt 3