{"id":118828,"date":"2023-08-10T11:00:41","date_gmt":"2023-08-10T16:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/toiletovhell.com\/?p=118828"},"modified":"2023-08-10T14:40:34","modified_gmt":"2023-08-10T19:40:34","slug":"review-mental-cruelty-zwielicht","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/toiletovhell.com\/review-mental-cruelty-zwielicht\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Mental Cruelty – Zwielicht"},"content":{"rendered":"
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You’ve got to be mentally cruel to be kind.<\/p>\n

Suddenly a section of the metal-sphere feels like it’s back in its 2000s Myspace era. Simultaneously, times have changed and as the original breakouts acts of the movement like <\/span>Bring Me The Horizon<\/b>, <\/span>Suicide Silence<\/b>, <\/span>Carnifex, Chelsea Grin, Job for a Cowboy<\/b>, and <\/span>White Chapel<\/b>, have grown, evolved and adapted in the near two decades since, a crop of relative \u201cnew comers\u201d have sprang up over the last few years (not counting the years of grinding away in obscurity trying to get noticed). Amongst several other notable acts like <\/span>Slaughter to Prevail, Shadow of Intent<\/b>, and perhaps most notably <\/span>Lorna Shore<\/b>, is Germany`s <\/span>Mental Cruelty.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

Adapting a symphonic style that’s been very in vogue lately in the deathcore sect, Mental Cruelty grew beyond their brutal deathcore roots and released their fourth full-length album, <\/span>Zwielicht<\/em>. The album seemingly has been a bit divisive, and phrases like \u201crip off\u201d and \u201cderivative\u201d have been lobbed around like a severed head during the French Revolution. There is some basis for the derivative claims, but calling the record a full-on ripoff seems a little out of line. While it’s not what will likely be remembered as a standout among the new wave of deathcore, it is a solid entry in the band’s discography and certainly has its merits.<\/span><\/p>\n

One of the standouts of the whole affair is newcomer to the group vocalist Lukas Nicolai. He displays a frankly frightening and commanding grasp on his expansive vocal range and helps keep the record’s pace exhilarating and fresh from track to track. With the instrumentation of the album being all over the place and encompassing everything but the kitchen sink, the rest of the band are able to keep things mostly coherent and deliver excellent showings. Guitar work from Nahuel Lozano and Marvin Kessler succeeds in both having neoclassical passages, face melting shred segments, and folly interludes. Due to the maximalist production style, Viktor Dick’s bass is a bit hard to hear at points, but his performances are very technically precise when detectable. Danny Strasser’s drums are another standout. In a modern landscape, where extreme metal drumming has become highly edited and over produced, Strasser stands out with a style that adapts the blistering blast beats that colored kits of black metal drummers and gives it a furious overhaul.<\/span><\/p>\n