The Summary Judgment Review:
Title: Occasus
Artist: The Amenta
Label: Listenable Records
Release Date: 7/24/04

Rating: 5 Skulls
  • Official Website for this Artist
  • Discuss on the Metal Judgment Web Board
  • Submit/Read Reader Reviews of this Album

    • Reviewed by Redwolff (12/10/04):
    The Amenta (roughly translated from the Latin: "the insane") are a five-piece from Australia that for the moment prefer to be thought of as a single unit rather than separate members - for this reason they do not even list the band members' names on their website or the flash presentation that accompanies this disc. With their Marilyn Manson-esque whiteout contacts and Matrix-inspired PVC longcoats, the promotional photos of this band certainly paint an interesting picture. It becomes obvious with a little research that The Amenta are as serious about their image as they are about their music. And they are damn serious about their music.

    "Occasus" appears to mean something like the descent of a heavenly body, perhaps used more generally in this case to mean descent or decay of human thought or society. The lyrics on Occasus are certainly dark enough to fit that idea. But the music itself is a bit hard to define; the band seems to prefer the moniker "extreme" rather than anything more specific such as death, black or industrial, although all three genres see equal play in all of their songs. The drumming is unbelievably precise, reminding me of their Oz brothers-in-metal Devolved. Synthesizers and effects (which they apparently take pains to reproduce in concert) create a mind-numbing wall of sound, supported by the guitar and bass and cut through by the harsh black/death vocals, which sound as though one of the zombies from the remade Dawn of the Dead fronts this band. The production is flawless, tying everything together so well that Occasus really should be heard from beginning to end rather than one song at a time.

    This is a pummeling release that will blow the cobwebs out of your skull. It's a fucking brain enema. Anyone who is a fan of extreme, heavy music should give this a listen. Definitely makes my top 10 list for the year.
    5 out of 5

    [- Metal Judgment Home -]    [- Email Metal Judgment -]
    ©1999 Metal Judgment. All rights reserved.