Review by Tomek on March 20, 2007.

Before "Mechanic of Dysfunction" ever came into my hands, I practically didn't know anything about Beneath the Massacre. A couple of reviews that I've read talked mostly about their previous album "Evidence of Inequity", and MP3's that you could listen to were not enough to come up with some kind of an opinion about this band. Well, what I'm trying to say is that, without any warning and with no mercy, I was slammed against the floor...

If I had to describe my first impression in one sentence, I'd probably say something like: completely destructive typhoon of technical extravagance, absurd perfection that is at the same time uniquely chaotic. After an introduction like this, I couldn't stop myself from further exploring this album, again and again, of course. The problem is that after every time that I listened to it, something was missing. Then it finally hit me - there was not a single solo on this album! Stuff like this should just not happen, not to a band like this. Then I noticed that the bass line was almost inaudible, as if the band concentrated on the speed and intensity of music, forgetting about the overall effect. Drumming is unbelievably fast, very precise, sometimes maybe even too precise - almost as if it was a program, that goes on and on, like a robot, fast, steady, even, but not very exciting. Also, even though I am a huge fan of growling, in this case, the vocals disappointed me. In every song, they are the same, predictable, and after a while, they become monotonous and boring. The guitar sound and technicality you can almost compare to Necrophagist - music is aggressive and brutal, underlined with techno-progressive and black-metal accents.

Although these guys are very, very tight somehow they missed the fact that speed is not everything. The songs on this album blend into one another - there really isn't much to differ one piece from the next one - no memorable riffs, no solos, no crushing breakdowns, it's very uniform throughout, almost seamless.

To sum it up - if you're looking for fast and furious - this is something worth your while. If you're looking for brutal and aggressive you will also find it here. As for me, I'll wait for their next release, because somehow I know they will make it 100 times better.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 8
Atmosphere: 7
Originality: 7
Production: 8
Overall: 7

Rating: 7.4 out of 10

Review by Adam M on October 22, 2019.

Dead to a Dying World has a very atmospheric take on metal that must be heard to be appreciated.  The first song has a spoken word aspect, but this is only brief as the music moves to more metal stylistic aspects very quickly.  The immediate next song The Seer’s Embrace provides a much more metal template from which to work from.  Despite the violins, this is a very heavy track and carries forth with it a great amount of momentum.  There is a nice use of dynamics to be found in this track and it is more indicative of what this record represents than the first track.  

The band has a shoe gaze flavour like Alcest, but is at times more heavy and metallic sounding.  This leads the music to have a great deal of atmosphere and this aspect oozes out of every pore of this release.  The third track Vernal Equinox changes things again with its use of female vocals, but there is a nice use of violins and heaviness again.  There is a very driving rhythm in most of these songs that pushes them ever onwards.  The songs drip atmosphere and although there is a similarity to Alcest, there are very few bands that Dead to a Dying World sound like.  The moody nature of the album is brought forth throughout the length of the recording and makes for a very theatrical listen.  It is still easy to follow the tracks as they are accessible enough, but provide depth for those looking for a thorough listen.  Although I was highly impressed by this disc, nothing really stood out to wow me and this brings it down a notch. 

Elegy was merely a very good recording and not an absolutely great one.  Still, fans of atmospheric metal will find a lot to like on this deep and moving release.

Rating: 7.6 out of 10