BITS hail from that ‘hotbed of progressive death metal activity’ which is Pennsylvania, which gave us Black Crown Initiate, Rivers of Nihil, and Alustrium.Creatio et Hominus is billed as ‘Atmospheric/Psychedelic Progressive Death Metal for Fans Of: Rivers Of Nihil, Fallujah.’ Which is probably cool if you’ve heard of any of these bands.
But it starts with some spaced-out sax surrounded by mellow, swirling ambience and dropping piano notes, none of which are cool and none of which belong to the 21st century. Since when did the short, atmospheric instrumental intro track become obligatory for practically all metal releases, anyway?
The guttural vocal courtesy of the band’s former vocalist Jimmy Murphy on ‘Tesla’ (he was replaced by Jorel Hart of New Jersey band Cognitive, who continues in the same snarling, throat-devastating vein) indicate something more heavyweight, but against the double-pedal bass drumming and hefty bass, the guitars spin and soar through the air with flighty sax and spin detailed melodic noodles. There’s no questioning the technical competence, but the judiciousness?
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Such is the nature of the compositions on ‘Creatio et Hominus’: chugging riffs collide awkwardly with fancy fretwork… and it’s all a bit much. The licks border on Brian May at times, and the whole thing gets a bit ‘Bill & Ted’, only without the humorous intent. Hybridity and crossover are fine, but when ‘progressive’ becomes synonymous with pretension and fretwankery, it isn’t.
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