I'll admit that I am a fairly recent convert to death metal and all of its sub-genres, being properly introduced to it last year when a friend gave me a copy of "Khaos Legions" by melo-death band ARCH ENEMY. Apparently death metal was now awful and seeing as I liked other "awful modern metal" I may like this. I did. Suddenly I was a massive death metal fan, and since then I have been absolutely crazy about the entire genre. Enter Italian Technical Death Metal band, HUMAN. Technical Death Metal (referred to hereafter as TDM) has always verged on the prog-metal side of death, and as a result, tends to be wildly unpredictable and, well, technical. HUMAN show off a massive amount of musical skill throughout their debut album, and not once does it feel stale or worn out due to this skill, and some exceptional song-writing.

It seems like there are so many unsigned bands out there in the extreme metal genres that absolutely deserve to be known. HUMAN is a perfect example of this, with stellar song-writing, a fantastic showing of technical skill, and absolutely brutal power which is essential for a good TDM or indeed, any death metal band. When the opening track "Mutant" started up, I wasn't entirely sure what to expect. Sure the blasting drums were a dead giveaway that this was going to be death metal of some sort, but the over-the-top flashy guitar work made me expect something akin to power or speed metal. Once those vocals start though. Wow. Throughout the entire ten tracks, I never got used to any one particular direction that the band was going, thanks to the prog feel to it. It's like someone smashed AMON AMARTH and early OPETH together just to see what they would get, and behold, HUMAN appeared.

Each of the band members to a great job at what they do, with the guitar work in particular standing out. It's those unpredictable prog feels that do it, and with the songwriting, lyrics, and half of the guitars assigned to Edoardo Boccato, I can't help but feel that he deserves a large amount of the praise. As I said though, every member does a good job, even with the fairly limited vocal style of Michele Sossano. It suits the music, and never truly feels like a weak link.

While there may be some out there that could complain, either due to those limited vocals, or due to a distaste for TDM, HUMAN have proven with "Cerebral Inwardness" that they have what it takes to make their mark. Unfortunately there are so many bands out that that may make the same claim, and in retrospect, HUMAN don't do anything that would really make them stand out from those other bands, specifically within the TDM subgenre. It seems a shame, seeing as they definitely prove themselves to be good at what they do, and the song-writing definitely shows a great amount of musical skill and knowledge. Perhaps with a follow up album, they can further expand on themselves and do something to stand out.

That really is my only complaint as "Cerebral Inwardness" is honestly a very good album with many reasons to come back to it. Any fans of death metal, prog metal, or technical death metal, should absolutely give this a go. See for yourselves.

Also just check out that album art. Isn't it glorious?

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