Humanity Zero‘s hiatus has come to an end.
Eight years after their last album, the Greek band featuring Dimon’s Night (all instruments, Ectoplasma, Inhibitions, Slough of Despair…) and Kydoimos (vocals, Misanthropy Apotheosis) unveils their sixth album, Cursed Be the Gift of Life, on Satanath Records and Rude Awakening Records.
The eponymous title track, Cursed Be The Gift Of Life, takes only a moment to bury us under its slow and oppressive heaviness, sometimes accompanied by heavy vocals or keyboards that create an interesting and majestic contrast. The rhythm accelerates very slightly while remaining anchored in anguished tones, but the path created by the musicians is long and winding, and they will surprise us with waves of unexpected aggression or touches of dissonance before their melancholy leads us to the imposing Forgiveness Devoured. The harmonics create a rather anguished atmosphere between two blocks of macabre screams that fit perfectly with the suffocating rhythm, but the keyboards make the sound very theatrical, adding an almost ecclesiastical touch between two overwhelming marches that will eventually lead us to Heresy Rising, where the sound is already lighter. The opening moments are much more breathable, but the band occasionally returns to harsher tones, as if to accompany the solo, before the mood softens again and then returns with a reassuringly bright touch that colors the rhythm for a moment, only to be disrupted once more, leading us to the solemn finale. Maledictio Amara heralds the return of haunting melancholy with soaring leads before transforming into a cathartic throbbing where inhuman vocals come to life, recalling the darkness of this stripped-down doom before giving way to Malebolge, a very strange final composition which, in addition to being by far the shortest, uses occult and disturbing noise sounds packed with effects before cutting off abruptly.
While Humanity Zero easily handles Doom, Death Metal’s more aggressive elements are also very present in their compositions. There are still a few relatively strange passages in Cursed Be the Gift of Life that keep us on the edge of our seats.
80/100