Review by Shadowdoom9 (Andi) for Deformity - Misanthrope (1997)

This EP was another band's attempt at crossing over hardcore with death metal. However, unlike Damaged, the quality has taken a plunge downward. It's clear how much they were trying to change the hardcore scene, but when they making their bridge between catchy metalcore and Deicide-like death metal, they seem stuck in the middle. The ties still weren't connected as they should've been. I was expecting something more exciting to begin this otherwise interesting deathcore era...

The record shows them trying to force their hardcore aspects into a death metal sound. The songs are short, mostly under 3 minutes, and contain no solos. While those are not usually an issue in metalcore/deathcore, when much of it is death metal-oriented, near the Cannibal Corpse level, it's quite an important key they ended up wasting. They also seemed to pay no attention to the riffs they've written, which could tilt the urgent hardcore-death metal balance they would've had. I would care for this a lot more if they added some soloing to go with the complex groove.

The vocals sound great in the high screams and low growls, and they actually have more aggressive intensity than the riffs, but the one song where the riffs work the best and most memorable is the 4-minute "177252: God Defined", actually adopting fast breakdowns and catchy vocal sections, despite lyrics of Alien-like extraterrestrial murder.

I have doubts for Misanthrope being considered a good start to deathcore. It can help me bang my head, but it just doesn't reach its potential strength. There are much better bands that could carry the deathcore torch, even the modern bands that metal purists hate. H*ll, even the ultimate slam death metal band sounds awesome to me compared to this sh*t. The production also detracts any case of intensity. I can find less stripped-down deathcore albums from the late 90s, and I'll be back with one of them....

Favorites (only one I like): "177252: God Defined"