SEPTICFLESH — The Great Mass (review)

SEPTICFLESH — The Great Mass album cover

Album · 2011 · Death Metal

4/5 · 2016-10-25
UMUR

"The Great Mass" is the 8th full-length studio album by Greek death metal act Septicflesh (formerly Septic Flesh). The album was released through Season of Mist in April 2011. Founded back in 1990, Septic Flesh are one of the most prolific Greek death metal acts on the scene. Stylistically they´ve gone through various phases and styles, they´ve challenged themselves and also tested their audience in the process.

"The Great Mass" may not test the band´s audience that much though, as it is more or less a continuation of the symphonic death metal style introduced on Septicflesh comeback album "Communion (2008)" (they were split-up from 2003 - 2007). Just as the case was on the predecessor guitarist Christos "Chris" Antoniou (who has a masters degree in concert music from the London College of Music) has written comprehensive orchestral scores to accompany the death metal basis of the band´s music. The scores are performed by The International Choir of Prague and The City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra. The music features a couple of samples but otherwise all classical instruments are played by a real orchestra.

Now on paper it always sounds impressive with a classical orchestra and choir in rock/metal music, but in my experience the combination fails more often than not. "The Great Mass" is one of those rare cases where it works though. Firstly the sound production is powerful, detailed, and clear enough to allow all instruments to be heard. Secondly the classical orchestra and choir work with the core death metal tracks and not against them or parallel with them, which is where a lot of other similar projects fail, and third and last the quality of the compositions are really high and specifically designed for the purpose. These guys didn´t just write a bunch of death metal tracks and as an afterthought decided to put classical instrumentation on top of them.

Needless to say the musicianship are on a high level, both when it comes to the classical musicians and the band themselves. The growling vocals are powerful (could have been a bit more intelligible, but that´s always a matter of aquired taste), the rhythm section is precise and the guitars and guitar themes delivered with conviction. The materal are also intriguing and varied so all in all "The Great Mass" is a strong symphonic death metal release by Septicflesh and a 4 star (80%) rating is deserved.

more than 2 years ago
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UMUR wrote:

more than 2 years ago

I´m not much of a fan myself, but I detect quality here. I don´t necessarily have to enjoy something to give it a high rating and call it a quality release.

siLLy puPPy wrote:

more than 2 years ago

I'm a huge Septicflesh fan myself. I agree that the symphonic death metal thing is a tough act to master but they do it here. My only complaint is that their albums seem to lose steam towards the end