Reviewed - 05/30/05

Humanology
[Timeless Productions]

Perhaps the most surprising aspects of Eminence is that one of the group’s members was a founding member of Sepultura. Bassist Jario Guedz may have played guitar with Sepultura, but his work in Eminence is hardly akin to his roots.

Eminence sounds like a combination of Pissing Razors and Fear Factory. This is grove-based metal chock-full of dense riffs, thick rhythms and hints of industrial and death metal influences. It sounds good for… a while. The guitars are thick and the vocalist has an intense guttural roar but it is poorly utilized. Unfortunately, the drummer’s talent is reduced to only a handful of tracks (especially “Evolution” and “Greedy As A Pig”). Oddly, vocalist Wallace Parreiaras, when dishing out a bit of spoken word, sounds hauntingly like Mike Patton. At times it is a great combination, but overall a poor execution.

Part of Humanology’s weakness is that after 4 songs, everything starts sounding exactly the same. While formula isn’t exactly a bad thing, it just comes off like Eminence is restraining itself. Their vocalist can gurgle, their drummer can blast, and their guitarist can shred. Listen to the break of “Citizen Zero.” The awesome melody and lightning speed solo is instantly quelled for another round of groovy riffs. Why!?

If Eminence played as angry as their vocalist’s lyrics or on par, they might be more interesting and sound more original. The track “Greedy As A Pig” is fantastic and “Hawking Radiation” is heavy as hell, but 90% of the album sounds uninspired. Especially when Parreiaras lets out another round of “wha ka-ka-cow!” or some other tribal sounding snarl.

Aside from two cool tracks, “Humanology” is better off skipped.