Coprofago - Genesis
2003 - Sekhmet Records
By Philip Whitehouse
Available from Plastic Head Music Distribution.
Formed in Chile in 1993, Coprofago have moved on significantly from their first demo which sat them sonically alongside 'Gothic'-era Paradise Lost. On their second demo they experimented a little more with jazz interludes, and in 1998 they recorded 'Images Of Despair', their debut album which melded these jazz influences to technical death metal. And, in essence, that again is what we have here.
Comparisons to Meshuggah, Spyro Gyra and a sort of death metal version of The Dillinger Escape Plan rise in my mind when listening to this album, but sadly it seems that while Coprofago are all very talented musicians, the knack of writing good songs has yet to come to them. The guitar riffs are in particular very disappointing at times, giving the impression that Coprofago have taken 'technical' to mean 'play one or two power chords, heavily palm muted, at odd rhythms'. This is okay in small doses, but when it forms the backbone of a passage, it gets dull fast.
The jazzy interludes brighten things up, however, allowing the instrumentalists to shine - 'Chaos', for example, features an excellent passage that includes some great bass-work and an impressive solo. They add much-needed shades of light and dark to an otherwise fairly two-dimensional sound.
It's not exactly bad, this album, but in a genre where bands like Meshuggah are continually redefining the limits of how it is possible to simultaneously confound and entertain people musically, Coprofago seem quite third-rate in comparison.
5/10
2003 - Sekhmet Records
By Philip Whitehouse
Available from Plastic Head Music Distribution.
Formed in Chile in 1993, Coprofago have moved on significantly from their first demo which sat them sonically alongside 'Gothic'-era Paradise Lost. On their second demo they experimented a little more with jazz interludes, and in 1998 they recorded 'Images Of Despair', their debut album which melded these jazz influences to technical death metal. And, in essence, that again is what we have here.
Comparisons to Meshuggah, Spyro Gyra and a sort of death metal version of The Dillinger Escape Plan rise in my mind when listening to this album, but sadly it seems that while Coprofago are all very talented musicians, the knack of writing good songs has yet to come to them. The guitar riffs are in particular very disappointing at times, giving the impression that Coprofago have taken 'technical' to mean 'play one or two power chords, heavily palm muted, at odd rhythms'. This is okay in small doses, but when it forms the backbone of a passage, it gets dull fast.
The jazzy interludes brighten things up, however, allowing the instrumentalists to shine - 'Chaos', for example, features an excellent passage that includes some great bass-work and an impressive solo. They add much-needed shades of light and dark to an otherwise fairly two-dimensional sound.
It's not exactly bad, this album, but in a genre where bands like Meshuggah are continually redefining the limits of how it is possible to simultaneously confound and entertain people musically, Coprofago seem quite third-rate in comparison.
5/10
