Monday, May 25, 2020

Septic Flesh - "Revolution DNA" [1999]

Artist: Septic Flesh
Title: Revolution DNA
Genre: Death / Gothic / Industrial Metal
Country: Greece
Year: 1999

Track List:
  1. Science
  2. Chaostar
  3. Radioactive
  4. Little Music Box
  5. Revolution
  6. Nephilim Sons
  7. DNA 
  8. Telescope
  9. Last Stop to Nowhere
  10. Dictatorship of the Mediocre
  11. Android
  12. Arctic Circle
  13. Age of New Messiahs
Actually, this is the first unquestionably "metal" I've bought during my teenage years (if Rammstein and similar stuff doesn't count), and it left a great impression on me at the time. Septic Flesh are primarily known for their unique atmospheric/symphonic death metal sound and the lyrics inspired by Ancient Greek mythology, but this album is way more experimental (but also much more accessible to a listener that's accustomed to nu-metal and bands like Rammstein - like me when I was in my teens). This direction was already noticeable on their previous work "A Fallen Temple" (tracks like "The Eldest Cosmonaut"), but this album is completely different from their early works, featuring a futuristic, electronic-infused sound which is closer to industrial/gothic metal (or, at times, even rock - i.e., "Arctic Circle" definitely isn't a metal song) of the late 90s than to death metal. This time there are no female vocals (which is unfortunate, because Natalie Rassoulis did a great work on the aforementioned "The Eldest Cosmonaut"), and the male vocals are far from your typical death metal growls.

"Revolution DNA" isn't without its weak moments, one of which being "Android" - the most experimental and electro-sounding track on the whole album, which I normally would love, but this time the experiment has clearly gone wrong. On the other hand, another experimental track, "Last Stop to Nowhere", is absolutely great. The lyrics can be quite weak at times (i.e. "Dictatorship of the Mediocre"; during my university times I was enough of an edgelord to give this album to my English teacher, and she also thought that some of the lyrics were quite shallow), but it isn't a major flaw. Overall, the lyrical topics are more than appropriate for an industrial/futuristic metal album. Would absolutely recommend "Revolution DNA" to everyone who isn't against some experimentation in metal:

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