ALBUM REVIEW: Neanderthal – Defect Designer
What do you get when you cross the white hot fury of death metal, the scintillating intensity of grindcore and the ingenious frivolity of experimental prog rock? Chances are, you’ll end up with something vaguely resembling DEFECT DESIGNER‘s Neanderthal. No strangers to the weirder side of death metal, the Norwegians have been pushing boundaries and reimagining the subgenre since 2005 through their two prior albums Wax (2009) and Ageing Accelerator (2015).
Opening straight away with a barrage of guttural yells and ferocious blast beats, the title tracks shows no airs and graces here. Rapid, restless and raucous – so far, so death metal. Then a wobbly bassline, a la PRIMUS, comes in out of nowhere to derail this hard-as-nails first impression. It consequently becomes a fixture that sticks around for much of the rest of Neanderthal and gives it a whole new facet that totally belies its listed genre. Wrinkles follows it up with a vocal section that sounds like it’s been lifted directly from the Jonathan Davis book of performance, and Trolls goes sideways again with an unhinged, primal, voice-cracking scream that is as surprising as it is spine tingling.
Death metal is in an interesting spot at the moment where a few things are happening: you have the super serious, will-decimate-everything-you’ve-ever-loved bands who are trying to lay down the most terrifying songs ever made, and the far less serious, “party death metal” bands who employ humorous samples and batshit song titles to cut through an overcrowded genre. DEFECT DESIGNER sit far closer to that second camp, and credit where it’s due, they are exploring the paths less trodden to stand out. But instead of an album with a strong common thread, it feels more like a collection of ideas that have not been properly fleshed out. Luddites is a particularly messy beast; never settling into any remit, it results in a mangled conglomeration of thrash, death, prog, math and punk. Even as it seems to have found its groove later in the track, it u-turns again to give an uneven and indecisive ending that borders on the frustrating.
The fact that Neanderthal doesn’t even hit the 20-minute mark adds a whole new shroud of mystery as to what this actually is. Too many songs to be an EP, yet not enough minutes for your typical album; the length of a brutal hardcore release without any of the audible identifiers of the genre; this is a patchwork release that is just holding together at the seams. On the plus side though, there is enough here to warrant repeated listens without the worry of it being a time sink. The tracks are so layered and textured – with jangly guitars, noodly bass lines, bizarre flips from clean to screamed vocals – that it’s impossible to take it all in on one go around.
Never ones to pigeonhole themselves, DEFECT DESIGNER have continued their trend of doing whatever they want and leading death metal in whatever direction they please. Leave your preconceived notions at the door, but be warned: results may vary. Commendable though their efforts are, this may ultimately fade into the aether of the year.
Rating: 6/10
Neanderthal is set for release on July 8th via Transcending Obscurity Records.
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