Sunday, July 20, 2014

Ad Patres - Scorn Aesthetics




(Kaotoxin Records)

I first heard of Ad Patres a couple of weeks ago when I threw one of the free Terrorizer mag CD's into my player and the French band's track was one of the death metal standouts on the compilation. Patre's music is of the brutal death metal variety with rapid machine gun trigger drumming.  Vocals consisting of death grunts and guitar playingwhich moves from distorted downtuned into impressive soloing.

 Opening track "The Lock" provides some welcome respite from the brutal all out death attack when the guitars get louder in the mix.  Ad varied pace  in "Scars of Compromise" works very well for them and once again it is only towards the song's conclusion that the guitars are allowed to shine through.  The title track is the shortest track and the playing here by all parties is best described as frenzied.  Often the pace is terrifying with the drummer's blast-beats setting the pace for the guitarists while the music is grunted over.  There's also  little bit of breathing space in "Emphasize Nihility" when it slows down a few times from neck-snapping blast-beats to a more foot stomping pace but true death metallers can rest assured that this change never lasts long.   "Anti" is chaotic death with grunting over the top.

French band Ad Patres have made an enjoyable death metal album that most death metal fans will enjoy.  Unfortunately though it's unlikely that they will make their way to the top of the death metal hoards as they often sound generic but even that can be a strength since many genre fans simply can't get enough.  If the guitars had been allowed to come through a lot more "Scorn Aesthetics" would have been a much stronger album.

3/5

Ad Patres' Website




Smalltakeover on facebook

No comments:

Beastwars - IV

After over a year off for various reasons, we have returned solely because we wanted to review the new Beastwars album. I really w...