C-187
Collision

Well, well... he's back after 14 years from the splendid “Spheres” by the house of Pestilence, one of the best guitarists in technical death metal, that Patrick Mameli who has greatly influenced the genre after creating one of the cornerstones of techno metal; in this return with the C-187 project, he also reunites with one of his former bandmates on bass, who has also played with Atheist and Cynic, that is, Mr. Tony Choy, a highly acclaimed instrumentalist capable of combining jazz and metal as few others can. Completing the lineup are Sean Reinert (I hope everyone knows who he is, if not, shame on you) and Tony Jelencovich on vocals, formerly with Angel Blake, B-Thong, and Transport League.

Let's say right away, to dispel any doubts, that despite having the crème de la crème of musicians involved in the project, this “Collision” is a useless, pretentious, annoyingly harmless album and not very appealing from a melodic point of view, demonstrating that it takes more than just big names and a staggering level of technical skill to produce even a barely sufficient-level record.

Musically, the album should, in theory, revive the technical death that brought so much fame to these charming figures, all enveloped in an atmosphere closer to the modern technical thrash of Meshuggah. The only problem is that it all translates into a dull rap metal mess, which would embarrass (not technically, mind you) even bands like Limp Bizkit. Amidst the general chaos and total compositional confusion, pleasant moments occasionally surface, like in “Stalker” where the band abandons rap to pull out a piece that straddles thrash and a certain typical nu metal vision cast in an advanced technical perspective, yet never going over the top.

The melodic-rhythmic solutions in “Sidewalk Chalk” are still praiseworthy, a powerful and aggressive piece that shows the best side of the band. On the contrary, we have fantastic episodes (it seems true) like “Crusin’ 4 A Brui” which, beyond the title, something that would put certain more famous rapper titles to shame, irritates the listener by presenting itself as an extremely chaotic track, going nowhere, where a psychotic madman, Jelencovich, screams and tries to mimic, with poor results, Jonathan Houseman Davis; it doesn't end here, as the rest of the work, except for the previously mentioned pieces, follows the steps of that song which I refuse to even write the title (my goodness, how could they come up with something so boring??, who are these roughnecks of my fellow citizens from Cinecittà??).

Having said that, I don't think there’s anything more to add... ah, the production is, needless to say, hyper-polished and plastic-like as few others, which helps to give the album an even more fake and annoying atmosphere, and not even an extremely high-level technical demonstration is enough to salvage the fate of an album that leaks everywhere. Let's just hope that good Patrick thinks it over a bit more next time before coming out with these masterpieces (intentional “f”), otherwise I believe my ears will fossilize on “Spheres” and pretend that everything this man produced afterward doesn't exist.