Time Signature Guitarotherapy...

Genre: tech/prog death metal

Entering from the left field, Masada's line-up features extreme metal veteran Cazz Grant and offers up death metal which is both experimental and traditional.

The opening track is a feast of engaging riffage, which is a recurring theme throughout the album. Intersecting the many crunchy riffs are are quirky and experimental elements, such as odd time signatures and strange harmonies as well as some pretty awesome bass breakdowns, as heard in 'Exist to Rot'. There is plenty of good stuff on this EP for fans of brutal death metal and prog/tech metal. The experimental nature of the album is emhasized by 'Futeotherapy', which is - yes - a flute instrumental... on a death metal release!

Musically, "Hideous Rot" really has some quality music to offer. But, production-wise it is, well, hideous. Masada have opted for a lo-fi and filthy production, which would go well with old school and primitive death metal. However, with music as complex and experimental as on this EP, such a fuzy production just ruins the listening experience, because it drowns out all the cool details.

Musically, this is a 4- or perhaps 4.5-star release in my book, but the lo-fi production disturbs my listening experience so much that it ends up a 3 stars. Still, if you like technical death metal along the lines of Demilich or "Human"-era Death, you should defintiely give "Hideous Rot" a listen or two.