Fragments Of Unbecoming "Sterling Black Icon (Chapter III: Black But Shining)" (Metal Blade)
By Kenny Irwin
Wednesday. May 17, 1:27 AM
More Swedish style death... yay?

German death metal assassins Fragments Of Unbecoming started as a side project for Mortified guitarist Sashca Ehrich and Venereal Disease guitarist Stefan Welmar, but after two full-lengths it turned into something much bigger. Even though they are from Germany and feature members from relatively well-known bands, all of the boys agree that their new stuff is more in the direction of ‘90s Swedish death. Good choice, guys.

Now, I love the ‘90s Swedish shit, but there are a million acts out nowadays that do this kind of thing. You hear it everywhere (and I am not necessarily saying that this is bad, believe me). Because of the popularity of this style, a lot of the practitioners have started to sound the same. Yes, there are different vocals here and there, some melodies change from time to time, and tempos / time changes can make songs overall sound faster, slower, tighter, whatever. But after a while, the likes of Fragments Of Unbecoming – who are really talented, tight as hell, and definitely should be checked out – start to fade into the background like that 10th death metal band you saw at an all-day metalfest: as good as they are, they still are just another death metal band of the day.

All is not lost, though: there are still some really sick riffs on here. Definitely a lot of that old The Crown / At The Gates sound that will bring you to hell faster than killing the pope. Of course they have to open the album with a semi beautiful acoustic arrangement and an electric guitar solo in the background. You hear it and know that shit’s about to go down. When the title track kicks in, it’s the same ol’ slow-version-of-the-fast-riff-to-come, short-solo-bringing-in-the-harmony, fast-riff-comes-in-with-bellow-howls formula. Vocalist Sam Anetzbergerthat’s growls throughout the album are good: a bit repetitive, but you can hear that he’s got it down and there are times when you can even understand what he’s saying. The drums and guitars are like fucking speed drills that are so perfect, you question if they can pull it off live. Third song “Weave Their Barren Path” just doesn’t stop and may give grandpa a heart attack: there’s some really tight rhythmic stuff going on here, and even nice breakdowns both in the middle and toward the end of the song. Fragments Of Unbecoming are not scared of penning epics either, unleashing a couple seven-plus minute songs that remain fast and heavy without ever mellowing. “Breathe in the Black to See” is one of my favorites, with its sick Slayer-esque riffs: it has the best combo of new style metal like Lamb Of God (especially in the vocals) mixed with old Arch Enemy’s sick tempo changes.

“Ride For a Fall” is a short, echoed guitar solo that flows into “A Faint Illumination,” which is pretty good and more evidence of the mature talent that this band has. Its ending has everyone going all out, fast as can be, end-of-the-world-type shit. Fuckin’ narsty. “Scythe of Scarecrow,” despite its hilarious title, is no song to laugh at, as is it tremendously brutal with amazing riffs all over the place doing the ol’ stop-and-go tight as shit. The vocals get a bit overly distorted here, almost like the movie Leprechaun, but no little green monster here: just pissed off Germans. The last couple tracks are really just one song, but these Germans are tricky sometimes so they decided to break it into three parts. The first, “Onward to the Finger of God,” is just distant distortion guitars that lead into the next number, “Stand the Tempest,” which is another nasty one. It is very reminiscent of early Swedish death metal, but alas: you can’t just go out like that. You must have the metal outro, which brings us to the final entry, “Chambre Noire.” Like an old dreary musical number complete with a beautiful piano piece and of course evil creaking doors and heavy footsteps… oooohhhhh… ahhhhhhhhhhh!

Yeah, so I would say that Fragments Of Unbecoming are definitely a talented band, and that Sterling Black Icon (Chapter III: Black But Shining) is a pretty sick and tight album. But for me, there’s nothing on here that overly wows me or makes me want to play it for my friends who haven’t heard it. If you’re super into death metal and listen to absolutely nothing else besides stuff similar to ‘90s Swedish style, then you should go out and grab this. Otherwise, it ain’t nothing to cream your pants over. Don’t get mad at me Germany, I’m just being honest!
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Kenny Irwin

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