Masada - Hideous Rot EP
Deathgasm Records
Death Metal
5 songs (14:47)
Release year: 2013
Deathgasm Records
Reviewed by Goat

Something of a mini-death metal supergroup, featuring some mainstays of the Pennsylvanian scene including Craig Smilowski (ex-Immolation), Masada's first non-demo recording is promising but dragged down due to some rather bizarre decisions. The second track here is one of these, Fluteotherapy – it consists of a flute solo with added vocal gasps and does absolutely nothing but make you wonder what the band members were smoking. Elsewhere, the death metal itself is quite good, a more technical mixture of Deicide and Incantation in style with a deliberately poor production. This is the other bizarre decision; although the music gets coated in a dark, gloomy murk it also makes it harder to appreciate some of the skill on show, and doesn't enhance the atmosphere to such a degree that it improves it.

This is a shame. Opener Hideous Cerebral Pulp is impressive from the start, clunky yet technical riffage building into an Incantation-esque morass. Exist to Rot has an enjoyable stop-start chugging, with some perfectly jazzy bassy flourishes, and the following Suffer Mental Decay makes a good foray into tech-death blasting. No track lasts for much over three minutes, meaning that you're not just left wanting more, the tracks seem to be over before they've made a truly good impression. More is needed from Masada, longer tracks that fit better next to each other, before I can really make my mind up, but as a teaser, Hideous Rot works well.

Killing Songs :
Hideous Cerebral Pulp, Exist to Rot, Suffer Mental Decay
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