Psypheria's sophomore and the last album 'Embrace the Mutation' is one of those albums, that really live up to its title. Psypheria have taken brutal North American death metal and mixed classically inspired keyboard work with it. The band themselves mentioned that they were influenced by Morbid Angel and Immolation, as well as classical composers such as Bach and Liszt.

I think the outcome is pretty much Immolation style low-tuned death metal and keyboards á la Nocturnus ('Thresholds' [1992] era especially) and Pestilence's 'Spheres' (1993). The music on 'Embrace the Mutation' was mostly written by guitarist John Oster. The songs are well intertwined with the lyrics' tales (cannibalism, self-mutilation, anti-religion etc.), so expect some out-of-ordinary songwriting, definitely not from the easier spectrum. The pace is mainly fast, but there's a few slower parts included during these 40 minutes. A few parts are actually beautiful! Yep, death metal can include the element of beauty, as Pestilence showed on their 'Testimony of the Ancients' in 1991. The keyboard work include big church organs, warped space sounds and piano work. Vocals are usual DM growl, pretty average, but still working well enough. The only non-Oster penned song, fumbling 'Shatterer of Worlds' is really weak, actually the only let-down about the music.

The only true flaw on this album is the production, or rather, the "unproduction". Firstly, the drums are in the front of the mix, and happen to quite badly drown the guitars and the vocals under them. The drums sound cheap, too much like played at home or something. I think the music is so much "out there", that the basic instrument sounds do not fit into it, more "effected" would fit in better. It took quite a long time for me to get into the combination of muddy, dirty guitar tone and crystal sharp keyboards, because to tell the truth, they felt totally separated, but after the habituation the fragment fell into right places. Jon Zig's H.R. Giger-esque cover artwork is absolutely great, and the booklet's paper is covered with a film to make it sure you won't ruin it with beer...

Bored with typical death metal? Want a snag to tackle? Then Psypheria's 'Embrace the Mutation' is one for you (sadly I haven't been able to get the debut, so I can't tell you more about it)! Worth checking out for death metal fanatics. "Our victory is complete, bow to your masters" - 'Systematic Confrontation'.

Rating: 7+ (out of 10) ratings explained

Reviewed by Lane
04/02/2008 19:05