Reviews list for Septicflesh - Sumerian Daemons (2003)

Believe it or not, during my original Septicflesh marathon, I didn't get through this.  I was more interested in the directly symphonic stuff.  And even though Iv'e been trying to cut back on metal, this is one of those times where I just got impatient with putting this off and decided that one metal album wouldn't hurt my charts much.  Plus, if I'm a Septicflesh fan, I should've already heard this.

This is true to form Septicflesh in every possible way, and may be the single MOST Septicflesh album of the catalogue.  They were always a wild act, merging various styles together in a weird whole, until they focues almost strictly on symphonic death metal.  This album is a careful mesh of the symphonic stuff, the straightforward stuff, the gothic metal of the classic era and the melodic death.  The results are generally, if I may, "mystic."  There's a careful cinematic presence in their beautifully produced music that only Septicflesh can truly provide.  Some of these songs are just legendary, like the title track, Viruses of the Beast, etc.  It almost sounds like it came out of a Therion album sometimes, and at other times it reaches FSoL levels of surreality, especially in the closer.  But none of these aspects ever get in the way of each other.

A few songs, however, lose some of the melodic prowess that this experimentation demands.  Now songs like Magic Loves Infinity are just gorgeously put together, carefully treading a fine line between atmosphere and melody.  But a song like Dark River relies mostly on the backing effects to handle the magic of the album.  That's my only complaint.  Otherwise, this is absolutely georgeous death metal, four words that probably shouldn't go together.

I struggle to find Septicflesh releases that I like.  To date my (patchy) exploration of their discography gleaned only Codex Omega as being of any note.  For me, all too often, the promise of the grandiosity of a symphonic death metal record always fell short.  I won't go as far as to say it works brilliantly on Sumerian Daemons end to end but it most certainly works for the bulk of the record.

The first thing to mention is that I am not entirely happy with the mix on this record.  I find the vocals sound a little muffled and the drums a little dominant in the mix.  It isn't a massive distraction but I do find it is worse on some tracks than it is on others.  Mixing job pickings aside this is actually a decent enough death metal record even before the added splendour of the symphonic elements.  It rips nicely and sets a frenzied pace at times that holds up well.

One thing of particular note is the clever use of the guitars to create atmosphere, even in its most frenetic moments there is always a haunting picked string on the fringes of the music.  It feels sinister, like something is lurking in the shadows watching as the album progresses.  On other occasions the record has a real rock feel to some of the riffs deployed (Dark River) which surprisingly works really well alongside the overall death metal aesthetic of the sound.  It is how I would prefer my melodic death metal to be largely.

There's a definite strength to the songwriting and a prowess to the performance - which is only to be expected.  There are moments where the record does meander a bit but on the whole it is a solid record that makes subtle use of the symphonic elements to let them contribute to the whole sound as opposed to riding roughshod over the record.