Xenogenesis

Reviewed by Dylan Raine

Artist: Darkside of Innocence
Album: Xenogenesis
Label: Infektion Records
Date of Release: January 17th, 2012
Country: Portugal

Tracklist:
1. Lux
2. Airian
3. Dulcifer Tragoedia
4. Nox Omega
5. Eros
6. Thanatos
7. Ego
8. D’eus

As you enter the Xenogenesis. for the first time you are tricked into the feeling of melodic musings, but you soon release this is not the case on the start of Airian with the complicated breakdowns and obscure time signatures. As you progress from track to track you are given a taste of very tasty metal, yet with so many instruments doing so many completely different things throughout like that in Dulcifer Tragoedia and Airian you get completely lost behind everything. With the female vocals coming to light in Eros and the jazz-esq fusions the music does start to take a direction here, more melodically than the last few and greater progressions throughout; Much definitely a better song.

With Thanatos up next with a harmony line heard everywhere else I was almost singing along to it before it had even started the next bar; and yet with that in mind this is the most technical and expressive track I’ve heard on the album so far. A good mix between the guitars, drums, and female vocals make for good listening. Continuing the melodies into Ego with a fantastic mix between the male and female vocals really does open up the black metal elements of this band. The instruments seem to have calmed down as well now and are much more in tune with everything else which is nice to hear.

As for the last track, a simple “WHY???” went through my mind, this really wasn’t needed.

Overall, the album makes for a complicated listening experience with masses of instruments doing their own thing for a part of the album before melody kicks in and shows the way. There are good technical nuances but overall the album seems to be lost somewhere between Black metal, Tech, and Death with no real direction.