Customer Reviews

Deleted Symphony for the Beaten Down

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Oh, my god. What the hell was that I just listened to? This band is perfect and although I haven't heard Sewn Mouth Secrets and Pussysoul this is a groundbraking experience. It's not just noise after noise. It's quality metal at its best combining elements from grindcore, death metal, thrash, blues, rock'n roll and everything else that I might have forgotten. Not forgetting those slow riffs inspired clearly on Black Sabbath.

There should be more bands like Soilent Green on metal scene today. *sigh* Not to say that there aren't but please listen to this band and you'll realize they are unique and there's no band like it. I can't wait to put my hands on a copy as soon as I find it imported in Brazil, since the import tax is too expensive.

Do not dare to miss this band!!! Don't you ever!!! And I mean it!!! It's brutal and creative but as I see from this site, many people don't think these two things can be together. Well, if you're like me and really likes extreme metal/hardcore you know what I'll say... :D

After getting "Sewn Mouth Secrets" a few months ago and proceeding to drool all over the interior of my car while listening to it, I wasn't sure any band could match such an original masterpiece. Well, there is one band that can do it, and that band is...Soilent Green. They're not quite my favorite metal band, but they're certainly one of the most powerful and unique. These guys can bust your head just as easily as they bust genres. Throwing concepts like melody and traditional song structure right out the window, Soilent Green rely on instead on a blistering fusion of grindcore and Southern sludge, using a nonstop succession of jarring tempo changes and complex rhythms to beat you into the ground.

"Sewn Mouth Secrets" and "Deleted Symphony" are easily two of the heaviest and most aggressive albums I own, but that's not what makes them such great listens. Rather, what makes Soilent Green great is that they have a seemingly limitless supply of talent. Louis Benjamin Falgoust II, in addition to having a cool name, is easily one of the best metal vocalists on the face of this planet. Befitting music this crazy and unpredictable, he shifts so effortlessly between menacing growls and demonic shrieks that he sounds like two guys. The dynamics he manages to create with his voice alone are like nothing else. Even if the rest of the band were inept, it would be worth the money just to hear Ben's performance.

Fortunately, the rest of the band is very far from inept. In fact, they back Ben up with with such a precise and varied attack that they manage to sound like a Southern equivalent of Meshuggah or the Dillinger Escape Plan (and those who have read my reviews should know that I do not make such a comparison lightly).

Special mention should go to drummer Tommy Buckley, who is easily one of the most skilled and creative in the genre (and the production allows you to hear what he's doing too!). He lays down plenty of sick blastbeats, but he doesn't stop there. His performance is littered with amazingly fluid fills and frantic double bass work that brings to mind the equally brilliant Brann Dailor (Mastodon, ex-Today Is The Day). You've got to respect a guy who COULD just blast away all album and sound good doing it, but instead decides to add reams of complexity and creativity just for good measure. Tommy is yet another reason I love the drums, and think they can go a long way toward making or breaking an album.

Then, of course, there's the guitar duo of Brian Patton and then-newcomer Ben Stout, which is nothing short of brilliant. You really can't ever tell what these guys are going to do next, as they lay down some of the heaviest riffs and most instricate structures in history. They can pummell you over the head with waves of crushing sludge, and then stop on a dime and blast you through a wall with some blazing-fast grindcore riffs. Scott Williams's bass is, well, there, although it's naturally pushed into the backround somewhat with all the insanity going on around it. I'm willing to bet he's great, though.

In the songwriting department, the band mostly keeps things short and sweet. These guys don't need to write long songs, simply because their compositional style is so tight and efficient. Destruction is the name of the game here, not extravagance, and accordingly Soilent Green manage to eliminate any note that isn't utterly necessary. The band does, however, stretch things out a bit with the stunning "Swallowhole," which takes everything that makes this band great and expands on it to create a chilling six-minute epic. Here's one fan hoping they decide to do more songs like this one on future albums.

Even with everything I've said above, you still have to hear this album yourself to truly comprehend what Soilent Green do. My words can't adequately convey how powerful and viscerally impacting "Deleted Symphony" and "Sewn Mouth Secrets" really are. I can guarantee with virtual certainty that these albums will screw up your mind, and given the band's obvious intentions that's a good thing. So scrounge up whatever extra cash you have lying around, put down that Nickelback CD, and grab some Soilent Green.

As far as being unique and carving your own niche in the overpopulated and too-often stale world of underground metal goes, Soilent Green lead the pack, creating a sound that can bring to mind vague influences only. On this, their third full-length, New Orleans' scariest take the impossible prog-grind-blues found on their last album, Sewn Mouth Secrets and... well, basically repeat it. So in that sense, A Deleted Symphony is a minor let down, these songs sounding like they could have been written and recorded in the same session as the band's last opus. However, when the songs are of this caliber, one can't complain, as one more trip down this rocky, twisty and dangerous path results in what will easily be one of my top five albums of 2001. Each of the ten songs found here contain a seemingly infinite amount of riffs, tempos and time changes, the band hardly ever repeating the same part over (verse/chorus/verse: forget about it). The southern rock influence remains, mixing in modern grind and mathcore influences as well (Blackfoot meets The Dillinger Escape Plan?). Listening to this evokes the same dropped jaw, glossed over eyes and vertigo that comes with those long nights trying to decipher Spastic Ink, Yes or Melt-Banana songs: it's really a bit much for those looking for an easy listen. But, there's always AC/DC for your easy listens, so while Soilent Green may teeter a bit to the extreme grind sound for some listeners, they are still worth checking out for anyone into new, talented and unique metal. All the drummers out there using triggers that make their drums sound like computers should put this one on for a reminder of what drums sound like, as the crystal clear production highlights the amazing drumming nicely. A solitary point is taken off for slight redundancy only: this album without any previous reference points would be a glaring 10.

SOILENT GREEN HAS EXPLOSIVE RIFFS, TEMPO CHANGES, AND HARDCORE VOCALS, WITH MELODIC SOUNDS AND A VERY HARSH, ABRASIVE DRUM BLASTSS NOT FOR JUST ANY ONE, ONLY THOSE EXTREMESTS " EXTEREME MUSIL FOR EXTREME PEOPLE"

are there any appropriate adjectives that will capture the pure insanity or power of this album? no, but its worth a shot.

often overshadowed by fellow labelmates mastodon, nile, and dillinger escape plan, soilent green don't seem to mind that they aren't getting the attention that they deserve. because if you listen to symphony..., or sewn mouth secrets (both amazing albums) you will soon agree with me that soilent green may be one of the best death metal bands to date.

soilent green aren't followers, instead they create their own path, all while destroying the standards that death metal has been reduced to. every song on this cd has incredibly complex rhythms and nonstop tempo changes, which not only bury you in the overall fury of the album, but also keep it an extremely interesting listen. the perfect fusion of death metal, grindcore, and that good old southern sludge blisters your ears, and it couldn't be much better.

every member of this band is incredibly talented. ben falgoust II has one of the greatest voices in death metal, easily transfering from a demonic shriek to a low growl. upon the first few listens of soilent green, one may be under the impression that there are 2 vocalists. its worth buying this album solely to hear ben prove why he is one of the best DM vocalists ever.

Brian Patton and Ben Stout are easily one of my favorite guitar duos in metal. atop of the tempo changes and complex rhythms, they create some of the best riffs ever to bless my ears. they can easily crush you with some of the heaviest riffs known to man, suddenly snap your neck with some furious grinding riffs, and suddenly stop and groove you into good old sludge. the drummer, Tommy Buckley, is also nothing short of brilliance, this guy rivals the likes of Brann Dailor (mastodon) and Flo Mounier (cryptopsy) with his over the top blastbeats, which are frequent, but fit the music perfectly and never take away from the overall sound of the album, he also has some amazing double bass work. i would comment on the bass, but since 99% of the time its inaudible, i really can't, but i'm willing to bet that top notch along with the rest of the album.

i think wheelchair assassin put it the best, soilent green are a southern equivalent to Meshuggah. if you have any interest in death metal, or your looking for some of the most original and powerful death metal ever created, look no further than "deleted symphony" or "sewn mouth secrets."

Man this album gave me brain freeze. Soilent Green is just plain brutal. You should expect that from a band the takes almost every metal subgenre (sludge, death, black, grind, blues, and I even hear a bit of prog in there) puts it in a blender and serves it ice cold. The album is full of abrupt tempo changes, style changes, and some of the most phycotic lyrics you'll ever. Buy this album and make sure to pick up some Asprin.

I have never really been a big fan of Soilent Green. I always thought that thier lyrics were extreamly loose and boring, and their riffs (for the most part) just puts you to sleep. That all chaged when I heard "Swallowhole", I was just dumbfounded. Music that kept you awake, and lyrics ...[that aren't] really ... as bad as they used to. Wow, this ...is the real deal. There is absolutely no filler, their really isn't any need to have any anyway. Along with Biohazard's "Uncivilization" and TO/DIE/FOR's "Epilogue", their new album is a MAJOR inprovement over all of their other ones. But I still have to state how impressed I am about this album. I would definately recomend this to anybody. Brilliant, just plain ... brilliant...

THIS CD IS GOING TO BE AWESOME, ONCE I RECEIVE IT. SOILENT GREEN IS PHENOMENAL. CHECK OUT GOATWHORE, SOILENT GREEN'S FRONT MANS OTHER BAND.

Soilent Green have been one of extreme metal's most exciting, innovative and simply amazing bands since they burst onto the underground metal scene with 'Pussysoul' back in 1995. After another three year gap between full length releases, Soilent finally return with their third album and second for the Relapse Records label. With founding member Donovon Punch on full time duties with Eyehategod, newcomer Ben Stout has the honour of sharing the savage and sludgey six string duties with fellow guitarist Brian Patton.

As with Soilent's groundbreaking 'Sewn Mouth Secrets' album, 'A deleted Symphony...' is an abrasive mix of blasting grind, thick, swampy grooves, metallic blues, drop-of-the-hat time changes and some amazing extreme vocal stylings from frontman Ben Falgoust (also of Goatwhore). While Soilent Green haven't changed their unique style all that much they have improved in almost all aspects from 'Sewn Mouth Secrets'. The production is more polished than the predecessor while still maintaining a strong underground vibe, and the songwriting and complex musicianship has somehow been taken to a new level while also coming accross as less chaotic. However this in no way means that Soilent have toned down their devastating attack, they have just fine tuned it, while the strong sense of groove that they have always hinted at has finally been allowed more freedom.

Ben Falgoust has always been an impressive vocalist and with each new Soilent release he seems to improve, with his method of alternating between three distinct pitches, ranging from a deep throated below to a blackened scream bordering on perfection.

Tommy Buckley is another to shine, with a clearer production allowing the listener to discover just what a brilliant drummer he is. Tommy's performance is scattered with deadly blast beats, pummelling double bass and superbly executed and complex fills and rolls, and is a fine example of perfect metal drumming.

My only complaint about this album is the length. It clocks in at just over 33 minutes, but when the material within is of such high quality it is just a minor gripe. 'A Deleted Symphony for the Beaten Down' is a flawless masterpiece of extreme metal with immaculate production, stellar musicianship and awesome artwork. It's for extreme fans only though.

I picked up this disc due to the recommendations of everyone whose heard Soilent Green. I popped this disc in and was greeted by the hell known as Hand Me Downs. Its like Pantera on steroids! Ill say now, this is not an easy listen at all. Ben Falgousts vocals jump from an evil screech, to gutteral growl, to a phil-like yell, while time changes jump around randomly in the Meshuggah vein. This is just 30 minuets of pure southern ... kicking. Best songs are Hand me Downs, A Grown Man, Swallowhole, Last One in the Noose, and She Cheated on You Twice.