Amenra - Mass V - CD (2012)

Labels: Neurot
Review by: Sean Haughton

This is one for people who like it slow, with four songs each around 9 – 10 minutes in length. Thankfully, Amenra start out by dodging many of the obvious genre trappings that make most “post-metal” super dull (bad Pelican rip-offs, overuse of delay pedal, etc). The first track opens with some really heavy riffs and the vocals are strained and wild in a way that makes me think of Breach! It makes things feel way more desperate when a vocalist sounds like their brain is about to explode. If the entire record was like this I think it would be something I could really get behind. Unfortunately the record begins to get a bit too cheesy from here on in, and there are some really jarring transitions into melodic vocals and some ill-advised spoken word points that feel really questionable and occasionally highlight some of the poorer lyrics on the record. The last track on the record ends on a pretty weak fade-out and once again I can’t get past those vocals. I want to like this more off the basis of the great parts (how many record reviews mention Breach in 2012/2013?) but it just seems to lose intensity with those spoken word and melodic parts. If bands like Cult Of Luna are a big deal to you this may be your scene, but I get the feeling if that’s the case you probably already follow Neurot Recordings releases fairly religiously and are well versed in these guys’ work already.