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Devilish Impressions - Simulacra

Rating

RIYL

Behemoth
Belphegor
Noctem
Crimson Moonlight

Release Date

07/31/2012

Label

Lifeforce Records

Tracklist

1. Icaros
2. Legion of Chaos
3. Lilith
4. Fear No Gods!
5. The Scream of the Lambs
6. Spiritual Blackout
7. Vi Veri Vniversum Vivus Vici
8. The Last Farewell
9. Solitude

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Recent Ratings
Nick Senior	Rick Gebhardt

There’s an odd paradox within the metal community: for as vehement as metal’s aversion toward organized religion can be, metal has a significant reverence for established rules and guidelines. Extreme metal subgenres like black and death metal involve the highest reverence toward the establishment, and its disciples must adhere to said rules.

Poland’s Devilish Impressions are not a fan of these arbitrary rules, laughing at the face of metal’s high priests. Within the band’s third album, there are significant elements of death metal, a fair portion of black metal, and (gasp!) power metal? Yes, you read that correctly; there are power metal keyboards, which is bad enough on its own, and they're mixed into extreme metal sub-genres. The even more heretical aspect of the band’s sound is clean vocals. What in the name of the sacred Emperor is going on?

Luckily for genre purists, the majority of the album sticks to a blackened death metal approach not unlike the band’s fellow countrymen, Behemoth and Noctem, and the album is at its best when those elements are highlighted. For example, “Fear No Gods!” is arguably the best song on the record, and it’s no surprise that it’s the most straightforward of the nine songs on the album. The biggest downfall of the album is the vocals of Quazarre. His rasp is well done for a pure black metal release, but in this more death metal-oriented release, Quazarra’s vocals are oft-putting and detract from the overall listening experience.

The reality is that Devilish Impressions pales in comparison to the aforementioned bands. Simulacra simply lacks the impressive execution a listener would appreciate. The members of the band can clearly play their instruments, but none of the songs are all that compelling. Extreme metal should never be described as “boring.” Because of this, the high priests of metal will be too bored to persecute the band for the heresy contained herein.

--Nick Senior