Style: Melodic death metal
Primary Emotions/Themes: Aliens, the constructs of man
Thoughts: Over the course of several hundred summaries I don't know if I've been objective or not through most of them. I know that my thoughts change over time, and now looking back at some of my earlier entries I see things that I consider a relic of that moment in time. Perhaps sometime in the future I'll revisit some of the older entries and see how they are a few years later.
One I know I will absolutely not be objective on is Hypocrisy's magnum opus: The Final Chapter. This thing fucking rocks. It was one of the first truly heavy albums I got into when I was a kid. Not heavy in the way that Korn or Limp Bizkut were, not heavy in the sense that Fear Factory were. Not even the heaviness of Dark Tranquillity or In Flames was a match for Hypocrisy.
The instant that Inseminated Adoption blasted through my speakers I was floored. I had not heard a riff like that... I don't think ever. As the song picks up and Peter's scream comes ripping through the air, no I had not heard anything like this before. This was eye opening, and this was one step closer and deeper to extreme metal.
Of course the album is still loaded with melody, hooks, and other enticing things to keep me interested, but this was a change. This was a fundamental change. I don't think that I had heard real, true, deep death metal vocals before this album. When the vocals came on for A Coming Race I knew it was different. Everything about this album was different... better.
Looking back at it the album really is a pivotal point in my evolution in metal. This album let me know that the ocean of extreme metal was indeed deep and I had just started wading into the depths.
The crazy thing about this album is just how well these songs hold up over time. So many of them kick as much ass now as they did when I first heard them. Adjusting the Sun has a m a s s i v e breakdown that is almost unparalleled. Request Denied mixes clean and harsh vocals to such a strong degree that I have a hard time thinking of a better example. Lies is a slower and chunkier song that is filled out with strong atmospheric keyboards. The whole thing just fucking rules.
When I was a teen there was a metal show that came on late on the weekends. The intro riff that played in between songs was that opener for Inseminated Adoption. I always wondered where that riff came from when I was listening. Now I know. It's funny how that comes around. Now this album is one of my favorites in the melodic death metal genre. If I could only get one Hypocrisy album this would be the one. Without a shadow of a doubt.
Written January 14th 2024
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