Deathcore has become somewhat of a slur in metal reviewing circles. There is nothing wrong with deathcore per se, but many reviewers (including myself) cannot help but be frustrated at how often it gets packaged as something else to broaden its marketability. Spiritual Deception operate under the guise of being a progressive or even technical death metal band, but in the end remain strongly rooted in what their influences seem to be. Spiritual Deception remind me of The Faceless a lot. The abstract cosmic image and lyrical content, the shallow philosophical nods and the production values are all clearly taken from the playbook of that particular style of progressive deathcore, but the band is also similar in how they write and construct their songs. Finnicky, fast material most often showcasing scale runs, dissonantly harmonized, alternates with brutal, low tuned chugging that, as if in stark opposition to the technical material, is muddy and tonally ambiguous as if the band don’t care for what they’re actually playing in those sections as long as it’s heavy. The general sound is already vastly unappealing to me, but the biggest issue with the album lies in how songs are constructed on a bigger scale. Songs are immensely linear and transitions between sections feel jarring, sloppy or even forced at times. It seems like whenever the band feel a section has gone on for too long, the next one will abruptly come in. They don’t bother smoothing the experience over by actually going from one point to the next, instead the album is a series of repeated needle drops, showcasing stereotypical ideas strung together in a haphazard way.
Almost as if Spiritual Deception were aware of how underdeveloped they sound and as if to hide it, they choose to add yet another detail to the mix. Orchestral elements heavily feature on Semitae Mentis, making an album that is already kind of a chore to listen to even messier, often sounding awkward when decoupled from the deathcore chuggery and guitar wank. Also these elements don’t sound like they meld all that well with the rest of the sound. Frankly, it sounds like the metal parts were written first and not mapped out how for the addition of later elements. Spiritual Deception, then, would have had to brute force orchestral elements that neither enhance the album nor are particularly clever. Similar to how they are interested in alternating between different sections for contrast but utterly disinterested into actually making it work in any creative way, the additional orchestration seems to exist purely for its own sake. It is telling that the only interesting songs on the album feature Luc Lemay of Gorguts and Karl Sanders of Nile. For a bit, the band stop sounding like themselves and appropriate a different band’s sound. I believe Sanders would sound good over anything, but he is also a Santana type character who could only ever reasonably play one style — and get typecast for it. “Dirac Sea”, featuring Lemay, is less overt but just sticks out quality wise. Musical guests cannot save an album so deeply flawed, of course. The fundamental issue is that Spiritual Deception are seemingly interested in being a forward thinking progressive death metal act but apparently not very interested in doing what that entails.
