Fragmentum
Masters of Perplexity

Masters of Perplexity, that might be truer than Fragmentum had figured it would be when the titled their second album. The Belgian trio seems to be interested in Mayan myths and culture as that is the theme of this new album that gets a lot of material in terms of photos and logos, 30 files in the press folder, 12 are tracks and the rest is the cover and mostly pictures. The press text is… meh, just about half a page of text stating that the bands has toured with some, something about Maya, diverging metal (whatever that is supposed to be), and the claim of being “no fillers, only killers.” If that last statement was true, it would probably have been wonderful, but it isn’t.

The style is melodic modern metal, perhaps melodeath. Slower Children of Bodom maybe, I don’t know as it was hard to pay attention. The vocalist is terrific… sorry, terrible, there are plenty of bad vocalists in the extreme metal bracket and this guy is certainly one of them. The production leaves some to be desired, but it might also be down to the songs, I find myself wondering if that Z-Underground studio actually is an underground tunnel where they are constantly interrupted by passing trains, hence the lack of focus in the endlessly long album split on a dozen tracks and over an hour playing time.

They seem to never have heard of self-critique, less is more, and such things that a creative mind should think of and seem to be narcissists convinced of their own greatness. this package certainly points towards that as this might be the biggest attempt at overselling an album, ever. They send a lot of material, for what? The one file that should say something is mostly filled with links and nonsense, and what would be the use of the photos when no one would like to write articles of the band anyway? And no, I am not the only reviewer saying the same thing, the site that overrates the worst on the interweb gave this album 2/10 and the one I think is most reliable as a critical site gave 1/5, I give 2/7 as I think this album is a complete waste of time. And I am not the only one nagged by the terrible press material, and egocentricism shown here.

Sometimes it is fun to poke at terrible bands, but in this case, I am more uncomfortable and embarrassed on behalf of them. It seems as they don’t realise how ridiculous this whole thing is, a sad joke on their behalf and they don’t even realise it. The Belgian trio should have known that if no label wants what they have to offer, perhaps it is time to go back to the drawing board and try again. Scrap the junk and make something worthwhile as Masters of Perplexity is perplexing at best. It is even worse than “all fillers, no killers” and a pretty tasteless thing that is hard even to dismiss in any respectful, or funny way.

HHHHHHH