Review: SIMENSIS – “Revel in Humanity”

Band: SIMENSIS

Album: Revel in Humanity

Release Date: 2010

Label: N/A

Rating: 8/10

In today’s vast sonic landscape, unsigned music lives in a realm of its own. The tragically limited availability of resources for most aspiring musicians completely changes the standards by which we must critique their efforts. Production will inevitably be worse, the complete package will not be as polished as the newest Sony release, and an overall lack of funding will be evident in the artist’s work. Therefore, when evaluating a piece of unsigned music, it is critical that the reviewer accommodates for these shortcomings and makes an assessment based on the one factor that never changes standards: the songwriting.

And in that regard, metal outfit SIMENSIS greatly succeeds.

On their latest EP, Revel in Humanity, the Woodbridge, New Jersey group combines melodic death metal with a dash of metalcore (that does NOT qualify it as deathcore) to create four rock-solid tunes that excellently blend melody and muscle. The band often adopts a fairly formulaic approach to songwriting, including thrashy verses with plenty of blast beats and catchy riffs, half-tempo choruses that often segue into some sort of breakdown, flashy-yet-compact guitar solos, and the occasional clean vocal passage. SIMENSIS may not be breaking any new ground, but they tread familiar territory with a maturity that is often missed in this genre.

The high point of Revel in Humanity is definitely the vocals – well, most of them. Vocalist Hugo Pinedo displays a mighty range, shifting between piercing highs and guttural lows that heavily recall Trevor Strnad of The Black Dahlia Murder. Oh, and check out the ear-shattering wail around the 3:40 mark in “Reticent” – one of the coolest things I’ve heard in a while.

The rest of the band members are no slouches either. Drummer Matt Falkenstein pounds away at hyper-speed, incorporating a variety of techniques that bring to mind both Slayer and Killswitch Engage at any given time. His frequent tempo changes also diversify the songs and prevent them from growing stale. Together, Falkenstein and bassist Maksim Timashev provide a sturdy, dynamic rhythm section that allows the lead work to shine brilliantly.

Guitarists Eddie Huson and Anthony Smeragliuolo make a fantastic six-string team, trading punchy riffs and blazing solos. The final solo in “The Dungeon,” featuring lightning-fast sweeps over particularly inspired vocals, is the biggest highlight of the entire EP. It is truly – for lack of a better word – epic, and with some glossy, big-budget production, could certainly become a standout moment among all recent efforts within the genre.

One of the aforementioned “standards” of unsigned metal releases is an utter lack of strong clean vocals, and unfortunately Revel in Humanity encounters this pitfall. While Pinedo’s stellar screams are comparable to Strnad, his cleans come off as a lackluster attempt at ex-Killswitch Engage frontman Howard Jones. Pinedo just doesn’t have the strength or conviction to give the notes their required oomph. Sometimes he is on key… and sometimes he is not. With practice, the cleans could add a fresh, exciting element to the songs. Right now, however, they just keep them from reaching their full potential.

SIMENSIS shows a ton of promise on their current EP. All of the ingredients for a killer metal album are present. Sure, it needs some fine tuning – especially in the vocal department – but it’s nothing out of reach. For what it’s worth, Revel in Humanity is a fine entry in the melodic death metal genre, familiar enough to appeal to a wide audience, but with enough surprises to win over skeptics. If they shack up with Metal Blade and get them to finance a big-budget project, SIMENSIS could certainly release something deserving of widespread attention and critical acclaim in the future.