Hostile Terraforming

Article by Lance Viggiano

“T” left a comment on my recent Sadistic Metal Review of Xoth’s Hostile Terraforming :

Well, clearly you have no idea what a GREAT musician consists of. And you have no idea who these musicians are, how much they put into their performances and recordings, and how passionate they are. Pretty outrageous review. I don’t think I’ve ever read something so angry about a group of talented musicians. I’m curious… have you ever seen them live? Have you ever met any person in Xoth? I think not. Or you would have never written this disgusting and embarrassing review. (As in you should be embarrassed for writing something so dispicable).

The commenter couldn’t mount a defense of Xoth’s artistic merits; nor did it bother to point out where the review’s criticism was actually inaccurate. It makes me think that not even the band’s defenders think the band has any point worth pointing out. As usual, the responses are simply about the character of both the reviewers and the bands. “Xoth is a good guy who likes his music, therefore his music is good!” Okay, great logic T.

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Tags: Hate Mail, Hostile Terraforming, techdeaf, tek-deth, wanking, Xoth

Article by Lance Viggiano.

Hostile Terraforming is the result of a lot of instrumental practice and absolutely no artistic or even musical ambition. Every moment is technically precise in the pursuit of puritanically banal phrases which fake variation by playing the same motif in a higher octave. Cyclical song structures allow the players to shred freely while never needing to establish an emotive core. The EP lasts only as long as it takes for the musicians to run through every show-off-in-a-public-space rite of passage stylistic flair which is recited in the most obsessively canned manner – essentially a musical diet of Doritos and Pepsi. Like all such outfits, the drums are produced to resemble a typewriter thus ensuring maximum clarity so the listener can hear every soulless tap and click as the performer slavishly follows the guitar around like a gimp-clad submissive. Yes, there are musical pauses to give the bass guitar its obligatory solo which has no purpose within a greater melodic arc of the song; not that the drunk dive bar crowd notices or cares.

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Tags: 2014, death, EP, Hostile Terraforming, sadistic metal reviews, techdeaf, The Sound of Perseverance, wanking, Xoth