This is the 10th anniversary CD reissue of Septik's self-released cassette of the same name from 1992, the occasion being that they're back together working on a new record now, I suppose. It's said that this "legendary" New Jersey band's "philosophy was to take death metal music one step further, adding complexity and musicality without losing any of the aggression". Well, guess what? This is pretty much your standard early 90's death/thrash. It's not bad, mind you, but let's be honest... there's nothing going on here that's all that original or creative. I mean, there are some cool riffs and the songs are solid, but the music is far from what I would call complex even by 1992 standards, and it's not the most professional effort ever either. A lot of times the guitars sound sort of out of tune, the production needs some work, and the performances could be tighter as well. Musically it's moderately paced thrash with a few little twists and turns and some unusual changes, a raw death metal vibe, and aggressive midrange vocals that rest somewhere in between growling and yelling. But the songs tend to sound similar to one another for the most part and lack energy. Every once in awhile they'll bust out an awesome solo, and they do fiddle with some keyboards on rare occasion (which I only like in the awesome acoustic instrumental "In Extremis"), but they're not rewriting any books. Had they gone farther with the melodic acoustic direction of the aforementioned instrumental they really would have been onto something, though. The production is okay, but the guitars are definitely lacking. The bass presence is awesome: Great definition, great playing, the works. But the guitars don't always hold their weight, and the drumming sounds a little bit flimsy... so when you add all that to some slightly loud vocals, a portion of the impact is lost. The layout is pretty uninformative. I assume that the cover art has been updated, but other than that there are only some black and white band photos, recording information, lyrics, and a thanks list. There are no liner notes explaining why this album deserved to be re-released after 10 years, there's nothing about the band or what they were all about at the time, etc. I don't like that at all, and I also don't like it when records are reissued with different artwork. Even if the original release looks primitive, that's what I want to see. I don't know... Lyrically the songs are pretty typical for the genre, "A tomb of stainless steel, A victim of cryogenic technology, Sustained life so unreal, Forced into realms of immortality." A couple of tracks are inspired by the works of Lovecraft and Poe to boot. I just can't believe there aren't any liner notes... what, am I the only one that doesn't remember this band? I doubt it. And that's what rubs me the wrong way about this whole thing. There's a shitload of groundbreaking material out there that I'd like to see re-released on CD, but this is nothing more than a decent death/thrash record from a band that might have been promising had they continued on in the early 90's. A good listen? Sure. But this isn't legendary material, I'm sorry to say.
[Winterthorn]
Running time - 35:03, Tracks: 7
[Notable tracks: Cryogenesis, In Extremis]
Winterthorn - http://www.winterthorn.com
