Xasthur – Subliminal Genocide / 2006 Hydra Head / 11 Tracks / http://www.xasthur.mercurous.net / http://www.hydrahead.com / Reviewed 01 October 2006

Time is on Xasthur’s side. This disc is 71 minutes, and it allows Malefic to go and lay out a framework that can last from the beginning of “Disharmonic Convergence” all the way to “Malice Hidden in Surrealism”. The opening track does little but set the stage, but “Prison of Mirrors” is the track that individuals should have their first does of Xasthur on. There are equal amounts of progressive and black metal swirling around the entirety of “Prison of Mirrors”, and the animalistic screaming of Malefic allows these two distinct styles to be merged without anything in the way of seams.

A track like “Prison of Mirrors” is not short in any sense of the term (the track almost breaks into a thirteen minute runtime), but the ability of Malefic to tell a story throughout each track (and by extension, the entirety of “Subliminal Genocide”) is without any fault. At some point, it should not be much of a surprise that Xasthur is able to create such a compelling album; the band has cut five full length albums in as many years, and as such have been able to go and work out any burrs in their output. This is not an album that one can easily sit through, or devote anything but the entirety of their attention on. Each track goes forth and provides a rich narrative that cannot be fully picked up unless individuals are able to enter themselves into Xasthur’s domain.

“Beauty Is Only Razor Deep” starts out in much the same way as “Prison of Mirrors” starts out, but gains an entirely new sound when the mechanical double-bass drumming starts up. There is little in the way of lyrical vocals during the whole of “Subliminal Genocide”. Most of the time, what vocals are there to do is provide another instrument to give Xasthur a fuller sound. This can be heard easiest during “Beauty Is Only Razor Deep”, which has animalistic vocals occupy a place in the higher registers where no other instrument goes. Each of the tracks share some commonalities (the aforementioned vocals find their way onto a number of songs), but each song on “Subliminal Genocide” has enough body to it to stand relatively freely from the rest of the material on the disc. Xasthur provides listeners with a flawless brand of metal that can do more with screams than masses of poets can do with their words.

Top Tracks: Beauty Is Only Razor Deep, Victim of Your Dreams

Rating: 7.2/10

[JMcQ]