September 10, 2010

Reviewer: Chris

Thrash/Death metal is now emanating from Eastern Europe by way of Poland. Magnus, which has been around since 1987, finally issues its first full length in sixteen years in Acceptance of Death. From the first notes you know it’s going to a relentless ride, but just how good it is remains to be heard.

First off, it’s interesting that singer Rob Bandit is from Poland because the vocal similarities between him and fellow countryman Pitor from Vader are pretty discernable. Granted, Bandit is not as resonating as the Vader frontman, but he’s not bad either; the vocals tread a fine line between total death metal and ugly thrash and half of the time it doesn’t fit the music. It’s nothing terrific to write home about and while the singing is not utterly horrible, there’s no real room for praise either.

The songs are in-and-out, clocking at a median two-minute-forty-five-second mark and I suppose it’s good because anything past then these restraints would get boring very fast. There are some very decent moments of thrash/death in here, but as a whole the vocals sort of ruin it for me because they seem to be rushed together in disarray. While the style isn’t bad, the delivery leaves much to be desired for my tastes. The music on Acceptance of Death is quite good, nothing special or shattering, and to be honest if this were an instrumental release it might rate higher with me.

Typically death-like with mild thrash tones, the album would be okay if not for the vocals laying waste to otherwise solid tracks like “Nothing More”, where Bandit seems to want to be Tom Araya for a moment ala “Necrophobic” from Reign in Blood, but he misses the mark by a mile. I sincerely hoped for a bit better release, especially after the near two-decade wait and considering how great the debut I Was Watching My Death was back in ’92. I guess such long waits between releases does hinder the creative spark, because this album appears to have been phoned-in in the worst way.

When “They’ll Bury” flashed through my headset I literally laughed at the tremendously cliché vocals that resembles vomiting and gurgling beyond anything even remotely serious. Then the “music” kicked in and the album went from tolerable to haywire in a few brief seconds, destroying and all hope I may held for the band.

Honestly, I’d tell you to save your money for something else when it comes to the latest Magnus release. If they don’t seem to want to take us fans seriously we should return the sentiment tenfold and just bail on this trite effort.       

Release Date: September 15, 2010
Record Label: Witching Hour Productions

TRACK LISTING

1.  False God
2.  Appear
3.  Spirits
4.  Essence
5.  Worm
6.  To Understand Death
7.  Private Religion
8.  Nothing More
9.  When You Rest 6 Feet Under
10.  They'll Bury
11.  Mournful Song
12.  Just Like Life
13.  There's No Use Lamenting

Total playing time:  23:18

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Magnus - Acceptance of Death