Subhuman
Profondo Rozzo

January 2010
Released: 2009, Maple Metal Records
Rating: 3.0/5
Reviewer: Luxi Lahtinen

Scenically from a beautiful Pisa, Tuscany (Italy), crawls out this angry and aggressive 5-piece thrash/death metal act called Subhuman who have been around since 2001, starting out as a thrash metal cover band. After going through some line-up changes over the years, the band hit Studio 73 in November 2008 to record their debut full-length album, carrying the title PROFONDO ROZZO, which has now been put out by a small Canadian indie label Maple Metal Records.



First note: The musicianship of these 5 Italian fellows is on a very professional level. The guys sound like they know each other very well and know exactly how they want Subhuman to sound like. There´s not even a slightest question about that.



Second note: Despite the band´s enormous ability to kick ass technical-wise, they seem to lack in the originality department, and quite much even I would say. But that does not mean that they could not be liked. I like them – I really do. Subhuman combine some elements that have been ripped out from a modern, fast-paced thrash with a modern sounding death metal - and the vocals of Fabrizio have a bit of metalcore-ish twist in them. But it all works relatively well for them within their aggressive metal craziness, and that´s all that matters really, I think. Subhuman offers lots of neck-breaking and hair-messing moments on their debut - and having always been a fan of ripping, all-piercing riffs, I am glad to hear that both Matteo and Elia manage to impress me, especially in that department by giving a serious shredding lesson with their 6-stringer riff spitting machines. Also, their lead work is flawless and top-notch, so it can be said that Subhuman has got at least a couple of killer aces in their own pack.



All the 9 songs on PROFONDO ROZZO beg no mercy, but ruthlessly try to do their very best to pound our heads the best they can – and succeeding in it pretty well even, too. Naturally a good production helps them to achieve some of these goals as well, to make us impressed by this frantic wholeness even more.



Final conclusion: Fans of modern sounding, technically advanced and somewhat fast-paced thrash/death metal will definitely find a lot of pleasure in this release. Those of you who are searching for more originality, keep on listening to your whatever annoying artsy-craftsy bands. Listening to Subhuman is more fun and entertaining though, I can tell.