Conor Fynes
'Algophobia' - Algophobia (6/10)
Shortly after the wave of excellent forward-thinking US death metal in the early '90s, there was an inevitable backlash of bands attempting to copycat the originals. The bands I am speaking of who innovated what we now know as the progressive death metal scene are now legends, with Atheist and Death first coming to mind. Algophobia is an Italian reaction to this Florida-based death metal scene, a strong group of musicians playing a familiar style in tribute. Their technical proficiency aside, it should not come as much of a surprise that while quality is evident in the band's performance, Algophobia's self-titled debut doesn't come across as much more than a clone of acts that frankly did it better the first time around.
Algophobia is a word that refers to the pathological fear of pain, so it seems we are in death metal territory here, alright. The band plays a slightly melodic brand of technical death metal, not as overbearing and triggered as modern tech death, but maintaining a ferocious musical proficiency to it. The influence of jazz music is implied in the groovy bass licks and frantic rhythms of the band. In this sense, Algophobia are taking a nod from Atheist, and that is the band whom these Italians seem to be emulating the most. As is entailed with the tech death style, the musicians are all fantastic, and quite tight as an act. The music is fairly unrelenting, and there is not much diversity, save for a solo or schizoid melody firing through the speakers here and there. Algophobia is playing very able death metal here, but one thing that deters from the listen is the production. I certainly prefer an organic studio job almost any day over something mechanical and triggered-sounding, but on 'Algophobia', the mix is very muddy, and this becomes quite a problem when you take into account the fact that the musicians' performances are being obscured and robbed of their details. The sound is chaotic, and while the production does take away from what could have been a better album, the band's energy and technical virtue keep them interesting.
Of course, interesting does not always mean 'original', and Algophobia certainly do not explore new grounds with this. Instead, it's as if they are trying to mirror the glory of Atheist, addressing most every detail in that band's sound. Even down to the higher pitched rasp of Luizio Dezi, everything feels like Algophobia are trying to recreate Atheist's 'Unquestionable Presence', sans the softer jazz moments. To a degree, the band does manage to pull this off, as the comparison between this and Atheist can be made within seconds of listening to the music. As one might guess, the disciples do not outdo the innovators, and despite the prowess of its musicians, Algophobia's self-titled is left sounding like an obscure grandchild of 'Unquestionable Presence'.