I don’t normally comment on band names as bands have to have some sort of tag, but Octanic suggests something energetic and high octane. That is what we get here from the Australian band. Listening to “Aeternus Imperium”, which opens this album, I immediately had a vivid picture in my mind of an explosive live set. There’s oceans of bombast. The predominantly melodic metal style is reminiscent of In Flames, Scar Symmetry and a number of Swedish bands. The pluses for me are that it’s fast and flowing. I was less keen on the symphonic hints in the background and the cleaner vocals which go with the growls. The return to a choral ending didn’t do much for me either.
It’s clear that Octanic have a good ear for metal melodies, and “Addict” in particular has an interesting structure. There are many elements in this band’s creations and therein lay the problem for me. It doesn’t all fit together. “King for a Day” suggests some sort of heroic metal, and I liked its forward motion which is supported by the melody and growls. The keyboard player sounds like he’s in another room doing something else. It’s unnecessarily distracting. “Deadworld” has everything and nothing. A bit whiny, but catchy at times, the growls, symphony and choral lines are all mixed with a metal riff. Then there’s a war-like section and this is followed by a strange chorus. I think this is supposed to be suggestive of warriors but it’s a bit wimpy and in fact sounds more like a bunch of drunks in the pub. I can’t say this is a bad album and tracks like the symphonically laced melodic thrashing metal bash “Fear the Reaper” liven it up, but all in all it doesn’t match up to its own hype. I didn’t like the slower “Pariah” and “Burging the Maelstrom” was in spite of its grandiose title was rather weak and watered down. The final track “The Devil Pays Higher” had pretensions to hardcore with its tribal chorus, and that was good, but as a metal piece it was anonymous and it’s not unreasonable the line “You Will Suffer” to have a powerful accompaniment.
I think the problem I had with “The Mask of Hypocrisy” was that there was too much going on and not all of it was strong enough or sufficiently coherent to blow me away. I’m sure Octanic are capable of dynamic live performances and of reflecting that in their recorded work but for me they needed to define and concentrate on enhancing their strengths and focussing on quality rather than quantity.
(6/10 Andrew Doherty)
https://www.facebook.com/octanic
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