Review by JD on November 29, 2009.

Italian metal has been more than just pretty good over the last few years that I have been exploring it... but sometimes the speeding car of metal hits a serious speed bump and crashes in flames. I have found that speed bump causing crash in the name of Fomento.

Musically, the band is pretty good and showing the musicality that is so amazing to be hearing. The guitarists are well versed, and seem to know how to shred (and when to keep it simple as well)... but all good things have a bad side. In say that, the bad side is the bad recording and the uninspired vocals that drag down what could be a very great album into the abyss of being crappy as hell.

Let me be so clear on what I am saying... the production on this album was more than just horrid... it was really bad. Guitars were not full and flowing through the album, the drums sounded almost like they were being played on a child’s toy set because of how tinny and too far back in the mix they were. Going from bad to worse, the vocals are simply bad in every extent of the meaning... It made me think that Lemmy (of Motorhead fame) is an opera singer compared to this man’s garbled and very non-talented noises.

Here is what I think in an nutshell the band needs to do to have a shot of becoming a good band. First off, Fomento fires their producer and send him packing, buy the drummer a proper kit that sounds like an adult’s kit and then go out and rustle up a better vocalist (Make this man one a roadie or something... and away from the microphone).

I would like to hear the band again, but not with this line up or production values . Either "Caesars Or Nothing" was so damned painful to listen to with such a bad vocalist set into a garbage recorded album. I have heard many badly recorded albums... this is almost at the top of that list.　

Categorical Rating Breakdown　

Musicianship:8 (The guitarists rule)
Atmosphere: 7
Production: 4.5 (Horrid.. Drags the whole thing down)
Originality: 7
Overall: 6.5

Rating: 6.6 out of 10

Review by Yener on June 4, 2019.

Ever wondered what two cats experimenting with anal sex sounds like? Then you’ve come to the right place.

Enter Huntress. This is a band that has been hyped up by Napalm Records for the past few months now, with statements like “Lead singer Jill Janus is an operatic banshee with an unparalleled four-octave range” and “The universe spread her legs and delivered Huntress” ... and um, yeah. As you can see, they’re not very good at writing press releases. 

Nor are the band any good at writing music. 

Deep down though, a part of me was hoping that this would be at least half decent. Prior to the album’s release, I listened to some live clips, and let out mighty roars of laughter. Still, it’s good to keep an open mind about music, and to give bands a fair chance.

The music here is nothing special. It’s just your standard melo-thrash riffs which we’ve all heard eight thousand times before. The guitar riffs are similar to those one would write six months into the instrument, but refuse to use them later on anywhere, because they’re so shit. And normally, power metal bands will have this one lead guitar player which has spent all of his teenage years running scales and listening to Rhapsody, so he ends up being pretty beast at it. This guitar player will usually come up with some blazing guitar solos which add a dimension of “at least the leads don’t suck” to an album, but Huntress doesn’t have that, either. The guitar solos are unimaginative, boring, and on top of all that, poorly played. Granted, I didn’t come into this album expecting Jeff Loomis type mastery but come on.

None of the music here is memorable or remotely good. Granted, it’s not as bad as Debauchery, but that’s pretty much impossible anyway. But the thing that bugs me most about Huntress, which I just can’t seem to shake, is that they are a manufactured band. They were put together, in pretty much the same way Nsync were. The singer Jill was a topless DJ in Manhattan and did that for many years, until she got bored of it one day, had her tits done, and decided to join a metal band. The other four guys, poor souls, probably thought “Hey, this could be our big break” and went along for the ride. Even calling them a “band” is pretty insulting, as looking at their promo picture, all I can see are four guys dressed terribly in denim, and what seems to be a professional swimmer.

The only audience this band will find will be twelve-year-old boys (for the tits) and... I think that just about covers it. “Eight of Swords” huh? More like “Ate All the Cocks”. I can’t believe that I actually sat down and reviewed this before the new Cannibal Corpse or Spawn of Possession, both bands with good music played by, you know, actual musicians. 

The only thing that surprised me about this album was the production and mix. These guys really did manage to polish a turd. It must have been a grueling experience at the mixing board, but they’ve done it. Of course, it sounds over produced and over polished – it has to, to mask the complete and utter musical failure they were paid to record. It’s all a copy/paste job in Pro Tools, and the singer does NOT have a four-octave voice – she has auto tune, and sometimes even that fails her.

You have been warned. If you’re the type who’s stupid enough to play with raw plutonium, then you’re most probably also stupid enough to listen to this album. I give this project an overall rating of eight – and that’s to the guys who drew the short straws to mix and record this thing. And they are probably on Xanax now. 

Rating: 0.8 out of 10

Review by Anna on February 17, 2010.

There's not too much for me to bash here. The worst thing I can say is that Maleficio is not doing anything I've never heard before- the description 'Black/Death Metal with a heavy Dissection influence" would suffice.

These musicians are obviously skilled, save for the slightly lagged blasting that someone like myself does not deem acceptable, though this seems to go unnoticed by most. They've got their composition down pat and don't deviate much from standard song-structuring conventions. This seems to be a choice, though I don't think it would be a bad idea if they pushed this envelope a bit. I can hear them disagreeing, but I'm not too keen on the perfectly "seamed" edges of each song. The affect seems to be a restricted range of "value" i.e., too much grey and not enough lights and darks. I feel a bit uneasy about this level of perfection in the context of extreme music. It's the musical equivalent of a woman who doesn't step outside the house without her makeup. I think there can be such beauty underneath if they would just let the raw show through.

There's no question these guys can play. The growls have a nice texture and the clean vocals on track seven are quite refreshing, but there's nothing on here that grips me by the throat and gives me that possessed look in my eye. Although, I really think a ton of people would dig this album as it's quite accessible and "catered" to the novice extreme metal-listener.

If you gave me this album ten years ago I would have been very enthusiastic, but my tastes have evolved. Over time the frequent blasting, "Swedish Black Metal"-style riffs and overall standard flavor of bands like this is equivalent to a lover doing the same exact moves for over an hour and getting you nowhere. It works for some people and if it does then great. As I said before the music is pretty tight and I think a good number of people would enjoy this.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 8
Atmosphere: 7
Production: 8
Originality: 5
Overall: 7

Rating: 7 out of 10

Review by JD on January 26, 2010.

Are these guys playing Black Metal? Are they playing Death Metal? Perhaps the answer is that they play a hybrid combination of the two mixed sandwiched with some serious attitude. I am not to sure what really to be calling this Swedish band, but that is a small part of my job here.

Maleficio is a Death Metal band that is purely based in the finest traditions of that style of metal... yet they have incorporated some aspects of other styles of metal (Black, Thrash and even some hints of Doom creep into the whole thing). These acquired bits of styles fills out the sound both vocally and musically speaking... and when you add in the growling guitars and earthquake rumbling bass, what you end up having a recording of a band that makes you stand up and take notice of a band on the verge of something big.

The lone drawback to this recording is the production of the CD. It is not bad of a recording overall, but it tends to reduce the sonic attack that this band clearly has locked in their arsenal. I think just a few minor tweaks on the controls when it was being recorded in the first place would have fixed that right up, but as the album is right now it poses a small but minor roadblock... but thankfully it is not a chasm that cannot be traversed.

What ever this amazing band is that you can pigeon hole them into, I'm now able to clearly say: who the fuck really cares in the first place.... this is metal at its best. Maleficio needs to be heard....Am I clear on this? Just so I am perfectly clear on what I am saying - Go get this album, stupid!!.

Categorical Rating Breakdown　

Musicianship:8.5
Atmosphere: 8
Production: 7
Originality: 8
Overall: 8.5

Rating: 8.0 out of 10

Review by Anna on February 17, 2010.

There's not too much for me to bash here. The worst thing I can say is that Maleficio is not doing anything I've never heard before- the description 'Black/Death Metal with a heavy Dissection influence" would suffice.

These musicians are obviously skilled, save for the slightly lagged blasting that someone like myself does not deem acceptable, though this seems to go unnoticed by most. They've got their composition down pat and don't deviate much from standard song-structuring conventions. This seems to be a choice, though I don't think it would be a bad idea if they pushed this envelope a bit. I can hear them disagreeing, but I'm not too keen on the perfectly "seamed" edges of each song. The affect seems to be a restricted range of "value" i.e., too much grey and not enough lights and darks. I feel a bit uneasy about this level of perfection in the context of extreme music. It's the musical equivalent of a woman who doesn't step outside the house without her makeup. I think there can be such beauty underneath if they would just let the raw show through.

There's no question these guys can play. The growls have a nice texture and the clean vocals on track seven are quite refreshing, but there's nothing on here that grips me by the throat and gives me that possessed look in my eye. Although, I really think a ton of people would dig this album as it's quite accessible and "catered" to the novice extreme metal-listener.

If you gave me this album ten years ago I would have been very enthusiastic, but my tastes have evolved. Over time the frequent blasting, "Swedish Black Metal"-style riffs and overall standard flavor of bands like this is equivalent to a lover doing the same exact moves for over an hour and getting you nowhere. It works for some people and if it does then great. As I said before the music is pretty tight and I think a good number of people would enjoy this.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 8
Atmosphere: 7
Production: 8
Originality: 5
Overall: 7

Rating: 7 out of 10

Review by JD on January 26, 2010.

Are these guys playing Black Metal? Are they playing Death Metal? Perhaps the answer is that they play a hybrid combination of the two mixed sandwiched with some serious attitude. I am not to sure what really to be calling this Swedish band, but that is a small part of my job here.

Maleficio is a Death Metal band that is purely based in the finest traditions of that style of metal... yet they have incorporated some aspects of other styles of metal (Black, Thrash and even some hints of Doom creep into the whole thing). These acquired bits of styles fills out the sound both vocally and musically speaking... and when you add in the growling guitars and earthquake rumbling bass, what you end up having a recording of a band that makes you stand up and take notice of a band on the verge of something big.

The lone drawback to this recording is the production of the CD. It is not bad of a recording overall, but it tends to reduce the sonic attack that this band clearly has locked in their arsenal. I think just a few minor tweaks on the controls when it was being recorded in the first place would have fixed that right up, but as the album is right now it poses a small but minor roadblock... but thankfully it is not a chasm that cannot be traversed.

What ever this amazing band is that you can pigeon hole them into, I'm now able to clearly say: who the fuck really cares in the first place.... this is metal at its best. Maleficio needs to be heard....Am I clear on this? Just so I am perfectly clear on what I am saying - Go get this album, stupid!!.

Categorical Rating Breakdown　

Musicianship:8.5
Atmosphere: 8
Production: 7
Originality: 8
Overall: 8.5

Rating: 8.0 out of 10

Review by Anna on February 17, 2010.

There's not too much for me to bash here. The worst thing I can say is that Maleficio is not doing anything I've never heard before- the description 'Black/Death Metal with a heavy Dissection influence" would suffice.

These musicians are obviously skilled, save for the slightly lagged blasting that someone like myself does not deem acceptable, though this seems to go unnoticed by most. They've got their composition down pat and don't deviate much from standard song-structuring conventions. This seems to be a choice, though I don't think it would be a bad idea if they pushed this envelope a bit. I can hear them disagreeing, but I'm not too keen on the perfectly "seamed" edges of each song. The affect seems to be a restricted range of "value" i.e., too much grey and not enough lights and darks. I feel a bit uneasy about this level of perfection in the context of extreme music. It's the musical equivalent of a woman who doesn't step outside the house without her makeup. I think there can be such beauty underneath if they would just let the raw show through.

There's no question these guys can play. The growls have a nice texture and the clean vocals on track seven are quite refreshing, but there's nothing on here that grips me by the throat and gives me that possessed look in my eye. Although, I really think a ton of people would dig this album as it's quite accessible and "catered" to the novice extreme metal-listener.

If you gave me this album ten years ago I would have been very enthusiastic, but my tastes have evolved. Over time the frequent blasting, "Swedish Black Metal"-style riffs and overall standard flavor of bands like this is equivalent to a lover doing the same exact moves for over an hour and getting you nowhere. It works for some people and if it does then great. As I said before the music is pretty tight and I think a good number of people would enjoy this.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 8
Atmosphere: 7
Production: 8
Originality: 5
Overall: 7

Rating: 7 out of 10

Review by JD on January 26, 2010.

Are these guys playing Black Metal? Are they playing Death Metal? Perhaps the answer is that they play a hybrid combination of the two mixed sandwiched with some serious attitude. I am not to sure what really to be calling this Swedish band, but that is a small part of my job here.

Maleficio is a Death Metal band that is purely based in the finest traditions of that style of metal... yet they have incorporated some aspects of other styles of metal (Black, Thrash and even some hints of Doom creep into the whole thing). These acquired bits of styles fills out the sound both vocally and musically speaking... and when you add in the growling guitars and earthquake rumbling bass, what you end up having a recording of a band that makes you stand up and take notice of a band on the verge of something big.

The lone drawback to this recording is the production of the CD. It is not bad of a recording overall, but it tends to reduce the sonic attack that this band clearly has locked in their arsenal. I think just a few minor tweaks on the controls when it was being recorded in the first place would have fixed that right up, but as the album is right now it poses a small but minor roadblock... but thankfully it is not a chasm that cannot be traversed.

What ever this amazing band is that you can pigeon hole them into, I'm now able to clearly say: who the fuck really cares in the first place.... this is metal at its best. Maleficio needs to be heard....Am I clear on this? Just so I am perfectly clear on what I am saying - Go get this album, stupid!!.

Categorical Rating Breakdown　

Musicianship:8.5
Atmosphere: 8
Production: 7
Originality: 8
Overall: 8.5

Rating: 8.0 out of 10