Anyone who keeps up to date with my reviews knows that I love the Tech. I used to hate it, or at least think it was self-indulgent tomfoolery (I mean it kind of is). Then I discovered the Grateful Dead and my opinion of Prog/ Jam/ Tech music changed. I brought this feeling into Death Metal and it pretty much reignited my love for the genre in a massive way. So, my lesson to you all is go listen to Anthem Of The Sun. Joking (kind of) but be more open minded, take influence from outside genres and apply them to your everyday listening.
With that in mind I was eager to hear the latest Humanity’s Last Breath. To call this band Tech Death or Deathcore is far too simple a term. These Swedish wizards have been on the rise for a few years now. Their 2019 Abysmal album garnered them the respect they deserved but still I think they had much more to give. That’s where Välde comes in, the bands fourth full length album, and one released through Unique Leader Records (a sure sign of quality). Is it as awe inspiring as I expected it to be though?
I think Humanity’s Last Breath have earnt the right to have an epic intro track, Dödsdans is certainly that. With a crushing modern Death Metal underlay and almost Blackened tremolo picking it’s clear they’re not messing about. Glutton then crashes in with a tidy, simplistic, barbaric and Tech touched tone. Vocally it’s a little atypical (with some Deathcore nods) but I really don’t think the vocals need to be much different to warrant this being interesting music. Earthless keeps up some unique guitar tones, vastly dissonant at times and even drawing influence from Drone it could be said. Descent highlights the Symphonic or Synth-phonic edge to a great degree. I almost want to call this Drone Death? Its extraordinarily unique. That said it feels a bit more like an exercise in experimentation than a means of writing truly memorable songs, which I firmly believe is something this band can do. Spectre is one of the best tracks on the album for sure, both instrumentally and vocally. The somewhat Cattle Decap ripping ‘cleans’ are haunting, but they’re so good I really wish they were used a lot more throughout the release.
As we enter the second half it does dawn upon the listener that there are still another six tracks to go. Hadean is a good start to this half with some pretty massive riffs. However, it’s at this point that we yearn for more variation. It should be noted that there is a heavy influence of Djent in this album as well, Tide shows this off. I’m not against this influence but it can give a cheap air of heaviness through basic battering guitar riffs. That said the more ethereal nature of the album as a whole balances this notion fully. In speaking of Tide too, it’s another powerful song, totally clean vocals are projected, to be honest drop the growls entirely give us more of this please! At least mix it up more. Väldet is an atypical needless instrumental, good performance but a bit unnecessary. That said if you like tasty riffs then they’re certainly here. By the time we get to Sirens I think I’m ready for the album to cut out, Väldet should have been the conclusion for sure. Sure, Vittring is a good end but it’s nothing we haven’t heard before.
There certainly are some ups and downs in this release. However, there is absolutely no denying that this is truly forward thinking and unique. The detractors to the album would be that it’s a few tracks too long and the hook heavy sections (like the clean vocals) aren’t utilised enough. From a purely musical perspective though this is very impressive stuff, I feel like my rating of this album in fact justifies the power that it could have. It’s already massive and shouldn’t be overlooked, it’s just a couple of steps away from total perfection.
(8/10 George Caley)
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