Dutch Death Metal masters debut Unique Leader release.
Ignore my abhorrent joke in the review title, I really couldn't think of a better title.
It wouldn't take Einstein to understand that the 2000s were a great decade for death metal, brutal death in specific. Think of all the neat labels, Unique Leader, United Guttural, Relapse. And all of the sick bands, Lividity, Lust of Decay, Disavowed (hint hint), Deeds of Flesh, Abysmal Torment, etc etc etc. I know some of those aforementioned bands had material in the 90s, but my point still stands because they had great albums released within this decade.
Wondering why I put "hint hint" by Disavowed? The former drummer of this band was also in Pyaemia. And who released this album? Pyaemia. (Really??? No way!) Cerebral Cereal is the band's debut and only studio album released by Unique Leader Records. I wish there could've been more Pyaemia, but all good things must come to an end. One thing this album does prove is that you don't need a multitude of albums to be a great death metal band and leave behind a legacy that other bands will follow in. Sometimes, and in the case of this album, all you need is one good album.
I don't think I can form a complaint about this album, this album is sick as hell in so many ways that I seriously can't think of any downsides to this! This is one of those hidden gems among the 2000s death metal era, and I really think that if you enjoy stuff like this, you need to listen to this at least once.
Musically, this is a heavy record. Songs are built with "tough-as nails" style structured riffs, brutal blast beats, and complex bass sections. When you think brutal tech death, do you think of sweep picking and mind melting bass solos? That won't be on here. Sure, I did mention complex bass sections. But by that definition I mean complex to PLAY, not complex in the sense of melodic bass solos (Listen to the beginning of Only Ash Remains by Necrophagist if you have no idea what I am trying to describe.)
Vocals, they're not bad. And I can't form a complaint, nor a compliment on that regard. I don't care about vocals to be honest, I will care if they're really good or abhorrently abysmal. So if you read any of my current or future reviews, don't expect much criticism on the vocals. But I do like them if that makes sense. However, I don't have anything bad, nor good to say about them.
Moving on to production, I would personally think that they did a pretty good job mastering this LP. If you think about it, the majority of death metal releases of this time had subpar at most level production. So even though the production on this isn't the best for today's standards. It surely was back then.
To end this review off, I would say that if you enjoy the material of Point of Few - Perceptive Deception era Disavowed, then I think that you're going to enjoy this LP. Not only because Disavowed had the same drummer as Pyaemia, but it's because they're so eerily similar that it's crazy. In the end, this album is a hidden gem among many in my opinion. So I personally believe that you should take the time out to listen to this!
Sample: youtube.com/watch?v=l9MLNJHs0-8
