distributed in Switzerland  by Irascible Distribution

review by Boris "Azrael" Witta ___         

The album “Through The Absurd” is my first contact with the French quintet Trepalium. Let’s first have a look at the band name: Trepalium is an instrument of torture which was used a lot in the Middle Ages, and I think, this name fits very well to the band. Trepalium play Brutal Death Metal, but not in the absolutely monotonous style like many bands of this genre do, but with a lot of different elements. On “Through The Absurd”, there are some very groovy parts, melodic moments (yes, melodic parts in Brutal Death Metal!), and if we have a look at the song titles, the lyrics don’t seem to be as stump and primitive like it’s normal in this genre. I don’t want to attack anybody, but sometimes, the lyrics of Brutal Death-Metal-bands are very nasty, for example those of Waco Jesus. But not in the case of Trepalium. 

So, now let’s come to the band: Vocalist Cedric “Kéké” Punda growls, screams and shouts indeed impressive and his voice is definitely not from this world, and he also is able to variate his voice, so it never gets boring to listen to his noise. Then we have the drummer, Sylvain Bouvier, who’s really a machine, totally tight, and often it sounds like you are in the fire of machine guns, what a drive, what a power! And the typical blastbeats, played in the very Death Metal-style, are really good, the perfect sound to let your mind rot, but of course there are also some heavy and deep grooving midtempo-parts. The guitars (performed by Harun Remirastan and Nicolas Amossé) lay most of the time the soundwall, only from time to time, they appear with a short melody (like in the closing instrumental “Salvation” at the end of the album), as I said before. Well, this is Brutal Death Metal, you don’t have to expect bombastic, beautiful melodies! I like “Through The Absurd”, and songs like the opener “Paranoïd”, “Necropolis”, the titletrack or “Escape To Death” are really good songs. But there are also some fillers, most of all the short instrumental “Machine”, which is only a bit longer than one minute and most of the time Trepalium-untypical calm and quiet. Not the big hit. And also some other songs can’t hold the strong and high level of aggression and power of the songs I enumerated before.

But in general, “Through The Absurd” is a strong, cool album, and most of all Death Metal-fans who like it really hard and brutal should check out the French Trepalium. I hope to see the guys once live, because on stage, the power of this album must be again a lot higher…

rating:   7.5/10

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