Hässlig :"Apex Predator"

Ok now we get into the time of year when I review albums that might have slipped by or been promoted in a way that caught my attention, however, they were number one on the lists of my peers so I am seeing if they are worth their praises. In this case, it's Cvlt Nation's number-one-ranked Black Metal album. A band from Spain, which is whatfirst made me skeptical, also, this is a black metal-punk rock hybrid, which could mean they just can't play their instruments. The first track sounds good. Here we get into the crux of what this album is about which I am not surprised, that it's a band that captured a raw grimy sound that is angry enough to work. 

This album turns into the issue of sound vs songs. Anyone can get a found it's about turning the dials of the right equipment. Not everyone can write a song. The problem with this is when you are four songs in and it still sounds like it's the second song, which was not as good as the first song. The vocals and the production are the most black metal thing about these guys if you had a punk yelling it would be punk. There is a little more chaos in the title track, but sounds like a mushy jumble of distortion with incomprehensible singing over it. What's the replay value of that? There is a descending pattern that breaks things up but it's too little too late and just goes back into what they have already done. 

"Abgrund" is back into the cacophony. It's raw but in a way that makes it just noise. You can hear a bass trying to fight its way through this mess. Feedback is the only thing that clues you into the fact that you are not still listening to the previous song. This album gets worse in this regard, sometimes the drums are not blasting at you but there is never anything to hook you in or make this memorable. "Raping the Exoskeleton of Life" is a great song title, but it sounds like everything else on this album. The fact they stretch that out for four minutes is just a waste of time. This would not make my best of black metal list , but it is worthy of my worst albums of 2024 list, as you can hear the first thirty seconds of almost every song and get the gist of what they are doing here, which is making thirty minutes of my life that I am never getting back after listening to this piece of shit. I'll give this album a 3. This is a lower score than Beyonce who claimed the number one spot on my worst of 2024, but she remains the champion of suckage since it took a assembly line of producers and songwriters in the most expensive studios to put out trash while these guys did it with dignity in their basements playing their own instruments.  

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