This split from Great Dane Records features two French death metal bands that have been around for a while but have not really made their mark so far. Withdrawn have been around for just over 10 years and have 2 full length albums under their belt. Kicking off their three track contribution with ‘Slaves Grinding Machine’, they sound as brutal as the title would suggest whilst keeping things tight. Singer Christophe Helwin has a very bland if competent death growl which becomes wearing after a while due to its flat and repetitive tone. Disappointing vocals aside, Withdrawn show plenty of talent on the musical front. Helwin’s very strong bass lines compliment the frenetic blasting of his brother Julien on the drums. The guitar talents of Michel Horeau are severely underutilized with his contribution being largely limited to simplistic riffing, but on the occasions he gets to express himself it stands out ahead of everything else with the minor exception of a clunky break during ‘Relentless Fear Hammer’. Overall the tracks are perfectly listenable but for a few teeth grating moments, but there really is little to recommend as it all seems so flat and passionless.
Demented have a very similar style to Withdrawn but not so much that you could confuse the two. There’s clearly more care taken with the arrangement on Demented’s three tracks with the guitarists being kept much busier. ‘Mystical Experience’ motors along at an impressive rate with some very nice
technical flourishes and Nessim’s vocals are strong and confident, if slightly one dimensional. Their songwriting is strong with some very pleasing jazzy breaks and challenging rhythms. This is particularly evident in their third and final track ‘The Way’, which meanders through a number of different styles and movements over its seven and a half minutes, barely clinging to a cohesive structure as it does so. As impressive as they are musically there is still something missing and it becomes clear that there is hardly anything that is catchy about their songs and as soon as you stop listening they are instantly forgotten.
The bigger problem that both bands suffer from here is the production which is flat and lifeless and all the songs here sound like they could well have been the result of a single take. It sounds as if all of the atmosphere and life has been sucked out of the performances which I’m sure does a disservice to both bands. Neither one of them could be described as exciting, but I’m also sure that neither one are as bland as this release makes them sound.
(Withdrawn 5/10 Demented 6.5/10 Lee Kimber)
https://www.facebook.com/Withdrawnofficial
https://www.facebook.com/DementedDeathMetal
07/02/2015 at 2:24 pm
Thanks for the review ! Regarding Withdrawn you’re right, everything was made “one shot”, and almost in one single take (I don’t know about Demented). Vocals were equally done “one shot” and in one single take, just few weeks after serious damage on my chords and fry chords. But it was something we wanted to try, trying to stay “true” to ourselves as much as possible, without any editing.