Formed in 2011 in Athens, Greece, SIMPLEFAST released their debut album, Apocalypse, this year. As a band, SIMPLEFAST could not have chosen a better name. It perfectly describes their approach to melodeath, perhaps the most mediocrity-prone genre in metal. They describe themselves as thrash, which they definitely aren't, for better or worse. The band don't boast any particular distinguishing features other than having a very tepid production and a tentative approach to the music. This might be acceptable with some kind of progressive music but in melodeath as bog-standard as this it comes off as baffling.

I'd pick out some standout tracks, but there really aren't any. The opening track, "Pain" is largely illustrative of the album in general, with riffs that do little other than fill space. "Not Coming Home" is at least a texturally varied song, if not particularly interesting apart from the occasional flourish. "Chasing Ghosts" and "Sins" are tolerable with one or two good riffs. The intro to "The Escape" is fairly good. There is royalty-free music that's better than this; vocalist Roussos is the only member who regularly evinces his enthusiasm, which makes instrumental "Enter the Maze" particularly weak.

It's not irredeemable; the songwriting is extremely basic but competent. At the very least SIMPLEFAST are neither monotonous nor grating. I also can't say they're particularly derivative, because clones usually seek to copy the unique characteristics of the original. Parts of the music sound kinda like MYTIC PROPHECY's leftovers, but no melodeath influence comes to mind.  It is an archetypal first effort by a new band; the sound is as yet undeveloped and the band largely come off as very hesitant. I recommend this only as a scholarly venture to help a listener understand what basically constitutes melodeath so as to better appreciate the creativity of the genre's luminaries.