Prophecy
Foretold...Foreseen

This time I won't start by banging on against the world and the music business that sidelines the most promising releases: the band in question is a side project of some members of Dying Fetus, which is already an underground group. Therefore, it's not surprising that they are completely unknown, nor did they have the pretense of becoming known. This CD bears the evident marks of the aforementioned New York band's style, both in songwriting and, obviously, in vocals: Gallagher's muddy voice, very personal (even if of questionable pleasantness), alternated by another unknown singer who intersperses the growling of his illustrious Mentor with good screams. The guitarists perform an exceptional job in terms of power and skill, demonstrating even melodic arpeggios at the beginning of the opener "Core Of Depression" and at the start of the concluding "Prophecy".

The eight tracks are purposely structured to strike at the heart of every Brutal Death fan: how can one not be carried away by the pure violence produced by this CD? In fact, the songs are very engaging, full of stop and go, interruptions, tempo changes that make the faster parts flow into funereal slowdowns. The rhythms, however, deviate significantly from the genre's standards, and alongside the classic blast beats, we find very personal and intricate passages. The work done by the guitarists is impeccable, offering us, in addition to heaps of brand new excellent riffs, beautiful solos that take us back to the early '90s, when Death was at its peak. The whole album is also permeated by those slightly punkish influences that characterize the latest Dying Fetus works: in short, the overall effect is somewhat less oppressive and dark than other works of the genre, but it gains in aggressiveness and originality. It seems to me especially that Gallagher and company are more creative here, and freed from the reputation of their original group (which obliges them to remain anchored to a certain style not to disappoint the fans), they let themselves go a little more: on one hand, they search for the Brutal of the early days while on the other, they allow themselves some melodic parts, seasoning everything with the typically punk immediacy mentioned above.

In a nutshell, this group of anonymous musicians solved their problems by enlisting half of Dying Fetus, and in doing so, they ensured the quality of their works. Bolstered by the great talents of these guys, Prophecy do whatever they want; they write incomprehensible lyrics, insert pseudo-acoustic pieces, and produce a high-class product, as powerful and destructive as it is well-played and composed (the production is also very well done). Certainly, having such caliber personalities in their ranks helps: groups like this relaunch the underground as fertile terrain, full of discoveries waiting to be made.