Matterhorn
Crass Cleansing [ Special Edition ]

Before you ask; no, it isn’t the mountain I am reviewing but the debut album of a Toblerone loving trio from Switzerland. This band was formed back in 2012 but it was only in 2017 they started on the journey that became the debut album Crass Cleansing. The album was released in 2018 independently and then with label support late last year, this new edition features a different cover and some bonus tracks.

Crass Cleansing is a traditional death metal album; I think you could compare them with countrymen Celtic Frost. They are pretty fast playing but like much death metal the vocals makes the album feel a tad on the slow side and the growling isn’t really great either. The playing time is relatively sensible but the lack of variation inherent to the traditional death metal makes it seem a bit on the long side, something that might be less of an issue for those enjoying the genre. The same is probably true on the originality front, there is nothing like this here and it feels as original and creative as a mountain.

I am not really impressed by the sound aspect either, it feels kind of old and cheap in terms of sound and not really powerful or menacing as you want death metal to be. The vocals are dull and slow, the album itself feels kind of sleepy and indifferent and I would much rather climb Matterhorn than listening to the band with the same name and it would have been more fun to write about that ascent than write about Crass Cleansing. It gives me the same feeling as Celtic Frost, one of boredom and difficulty caring about what I am listening to – if you like Celtic Frost there is a pretty good chance that you like Matterhorn as well.

Perhaps it is a viable choice for those of you who like the death metal genre; I don’t think they will bring new fans to said genre with what they are offering. Crass Cleansing might not be a bad album, but it certainly isn’t good either and I can safely say that albums like these do not impress and I am sure that I am far from the only person thinking the same thing after hearing music such as this.

HHHHHHH