Septicflesh - Modern Primitive (2022)

Modern Primitive is now the sixth album in this heavily symphonic, modern phase of Septicflesh's career, which has never produced a single stinker, and yet for all the quality, I can't help but feel a little tired of the whole affair. Granted, when I want a giant orchestrated blast to the face, I will happily mend my ways and turn back to the Greek juggernaut's unparalleled commitment to this style, but I do from time to time miss the 'innocence', or maybe that's not the right word, but the more subtle mysticism of their older recordings, and wish they might find a bridge between the two. What I can say for this album is that it has a mildly more organic feel to its production values...it doesn't feel quite so large and stunning, as if you're standing in some modern museum, but this one almost has a live vibe going on that I appreciate, even though they are still collaborating with the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra.

Otherwise, it does feel a lot like a Codex Omega II. Loping grooves that occasionally shift into the harmonic melodies or dissonant chords, enormous percussion between the actual drummer, Krimh, and the orchestra timpani and other drums that crash along. The songwriting actually feels a margin more intricate than the prior album or two, but it's somewhat interchangeable do to the constant, rolling chugs. Spiros' vocals are your usual massive guttural but often affixed with some snarls to create an additional depth, and I think this more natural production also makes him sound a little more ominous. The songs often have a more sporadic and progressive feel to them, like the crazy and chaotic "Coming Storm", but that's not to say they're always interesting, just swinging more for the fences where Codex Omega might have come off a little more conservative to the strengths of the albums before it. The chemistry between tracks is still just as potent, but I have a few hear that I could escape into more than others, such as "A Desert Throne" and "Self-Eater" with their eerie or glorious atmospheric sequences. "Psychohistory" is another one that benefits a lot from the symphonics, erupting blast beats and dreamy, carried-away vibe.

I'll still give the nod to Codex Omega over this, and this one doesn't have me howling in ecstasy quite like The Great Mass, which was a simpler affair but for me the one that best exemplified this style with the catchiest tracks of the era. If you're not exhausted yet with this phase in their career, then I can't imagine this one is going to turn you off...it brings the goods, and tries to submerge them in a fresher audio space, but there might not be quite enough to expand them into new horizons. I feel like this is probably the point where the band would take a hiatus, Spiros and Sotiros and company plotting out a more nuanced and compulsory evolution forward, but for all I know we'll get another half dozen of these records with their deformed, statuesque cover beings and the same sort of grandiloquent, symphonic aesthetics that their material has transformed into exclusively. And of course I'll be there if I still draw breath, but the shine is starting to wane a bit.

Verdict: Win [7.75/10]

https://www.septicflesh.com/