SENMUTH — Mal'akatu (review)

SENMUTH — Mal'akatu album cover Album · 2010 · Industrial Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
1.5/5 ·
Conor Fynes
'Mal'akatu' - Senmuth (3/10)

Coming back yet again in 2010 when another metal-leaning ambient album, Senmuth's 'Mal'akatu' is already born to harsh conditions. With at least eighty albums by this Russian artist having come before, the album faces a big risk of sounding very tired and recycled right off the bat, regardless of quality. As it turns out, 'Mal'akatu' is a generally inoffensive album that while listenable, lacks virtually any sort of memorable melodic hook or impact on the listener.

LIke I said, perhaps this is simply due to the fact that I am unable to appreciate the weaker albums of Senmuth now that I've listened to so many of them, but 'Mal'akatu' simply feels hollow, barring one of two graces. One of these positive notes is the presence of vocals, although not vocals as we might be used to them with Senmuth. This album certainly deserves to be called instrumental, but there are near-operatic female vocal flourishes that can be distantly heard in the background, which give the impression of mythical sirens; very cool. Unfortunately, these can only be heard towards the last three tracks, and only in sparse quantities. For the very most part, 'Mal'akatu' is a snore.

The songwriting and execution is something that's been heard many times before, some sort of tribal percussive beat mixed overtop some seemingly improvised melodies. All of the music here is also programmed through a synthesizer, meaning anyone looking for an authentic world music experience will be surely disappointed. While the album serves as being background music fairly well, the fact remains that Senmuth has made so many albums by this point that serve the same purpose, but do a much better job of it.

A very disappointing release, and while I still can't bring myself to say it's without merit entirely, there is little here that has a chance in hell- or Xibalba, or Ragnarok- of ever dazzling the senses.
Share this review
more

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Metal Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

MMA TOP 5 Metal ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
Master of Puppets Thrash Metal
METALLICA
Buy this album from our partners
Paranoid Heavy Metal
BLACK SABBATH
Buy this album from our partners
Moving Pictures Hard Rock
RUSH
Buy this album from our partners
Powerslave NWoBHM
IRON MAIDEN
Buy this album from our partners
Rising Heavy Metal
RAINBOW
Buy this album from our partners

New Metal Artists

New Metal Releases

Hin helga kvöl Atmospheric Sludge Metal
SÓLSTAFIR
Buy this album from MMA partners
The Cycles of Suffering Black Metal
BURIAL OATH
Buy this album from MMA partners
The Suns of Perdition - Chapter IV: To Shadow Zion Black Metal
PANZERFAUST
Buy this album from MMA partners
Facilis Descensus Averno Death Metal
SAEVUS FINIS
Buy this album from MMA partners
Merciless Crossover Thrash
BODY COUNT
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

DAWN OF REVENGE - Sanctuary [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 5 days ago
DAWN OF REVENGE - Farewell [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 5 days ago
DAWN OF REVENGE - Curtain of Death - [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 5 days ago
DAWN OF REVENGE - Vengeance [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 5 days ago
DAWN OF REVENGE - I Need You [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 5 days ago
More videos

New MMA Metal Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Metal News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Follow us on Twitter Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed