Hypocrisy - A Taste of Extreme Divinity 3/5

01. Valley of the Damned 04:17 02. Hang Him High 04:35 03. Solar Empire 05:15 04. Weed Out the Weak 03:50 05. No Tomorrow 04:16 06. Global Domination 05:14 07. Taste the Extreme Divine 03:36 08. Alive 04:21 09. The Quest 05:31 10. Tamed (Filled With Fear) 04:39 11. Sky’s Falling Down 04:31

Peter Tägtgren is something of a legend in his own right, thanks to his impressive list of production credits; he’s produced albums by Children of Bodom, Amon Amarth, Dimmu Borgir, Sabaton and Celtic Frost. In fact, he even managed to poach drummer Horgh from black metal legends Immortal (yes, those guys from the forest - Youtube “Call of the Wintermoon” if you don’t know what I mean) for his own band, Hypocrisy.

Hypocrisy have been around on the death metal scene for 20 years, now. They’ve released ten albums since 1992, and now grace us with the eleventh, “A Taste of Extreme Divinity”. Their pedigree has never been in doubt - for example, Children of Bodom axe-master Alexi Laiho teamed up with them on the tour for latest album - but theirs is not a name which has been on the lips of the metal community of late. The hope was that this latest effort would see them returned to the forefront of the oh-so-convoluted Swedish death metal scene.

Listening to this album, you can tell why Pete is in such demand as a producer. It’s incredibly well polished stuff, and he’s managed to create a hell of a racket with what is technically a three-piece band. It’s an intense wall of sound, and uncompromisingly brutal at all times, despite featuring some surprisingly well-crafted melodic segments. ‘Solar Empire’ and ‘No Tomorrow’ are standout examples of this, daring to be almost catchy while remaining the loudest, most abrasive thing you’ve heard since the council decided to dig up the gas main outside your house at six in the bloody morning. Opening salvo ‘Valley of the Damned’ sets the tone for the album as a whole, a maelstrom of churning guitar riffs, frantic melodic lead guitar, galloping drums and guttural vocals.

Of course, there are definite notes of Hypocrisy’s more death-orientated origins, as songs like ‘Taste the Extreme Divine’ showcase, but for the most part the more melodic approach is the order of the day. Keyboard effects are utilised in many songs, although for the most part subtly so - ’The Quest’ seems fairly drenched in them at times, but remains crushingly heavy nonetheless. Tägtgren’s vocal performance is excellent, and does much to ground the songs, and Horgh’s drumming is impeccable, as always. There’s a But though. There’s always a But.

Here’s the problem. I’ve listened to this album over and over and over, sometimes just on in the background, sometimes intensively (alright, on the bus), and still, somehow, every time it just seems to wash over me in a oner. I’ve listened to it so many times, and I still can’t look at the track list and pick out many individual songs and say “oh, that’s that one. It sounds like this”. After ‘Valley of the Damned’, everything just seems to merge together, verse-chorus-verse-chorus-solo-chorus to infinity, and it’s over before you know it. It just seems so…nondescript, uniform. Once you’ve got used to the way Hypocrisy do business, at least on this record, they will utterly fail to ever surprise or challenge you. Maybe he’s been too busy producing everybody’s next album, but Tägtgren has come up with a collection of songs that really anybody could have written. It’s possible he did it in his sleep.

It can’t be a good sign that the production is my favourite thing about this album. It really is beautifully crafted; it sounds deep, rich, dark, the bass tone is incredible. It’s polished, well-executed fare, and you’ll nod your head and tap your foot, but beyond this I doubt this album will have any effect upon you whatsoever. There isn’t a riff or a hook in there you’re going to be mumbling drunkenly while air-guitaring on the way home from the pub. To be brutally honest, it’s not really life-changing stuff.

You know how every time a big blockbuster movie comes out, it seems to be accompanied by a videogame? These games tend to have had a lot of money thrown at them, and as such look very nice, the graphics are ludicrous and they’re very aesthetically pleasing…but they’re shit to actually play. Something vital is missing, the spark of inspiration that should have been the reason to make a game in the first place, and you’re left with a dribbling, vacuous supermodel of a game. That is my torturous analogy of the day; “A Taste of Extreme Divinity” sounds beautiful, but lacks inspiration. With that final complaint in mind, I can’t see this album catapulting Hypocrisy back to the top of the international death metal scene, but it does illustrate their competence and why they’ve always deserved a seat at the table.

A Taste of Extreme Divinity is available to buy or download at Play.com

Genre : Death Metal

Article by Phil Sim