Hackneyed French death metal band Act of Gods are nothing special, and after listening to Maat several times, I can only assume that Erik was on the mark in his review of their debut – Stench of Centuries. Filled to the brim, or perhaps overflowing entirely, with blast beats, leads, and grunts, these Frenchmen stick to the death metal formula like jaded veterans. Even though Maat is frequently a showcase for guitar shredding and nimble drumming, the 11 tracks on tap – excluding the cover of Terrorizer’s “After World Obliteration” – don’t do anything that hasn’t been done before by other acts.

While not bad by any stretch, the production leaves much to be desired for one major reason: it’s not beefy. Often the instruments sound too fuzzy, clicky, or shallow for this particular branch of death metal. In fact, the average vocals were better produced than any other component. Still – keeping in mind that Act of Gods can play hella (stay tuned for my review of Concentration Face & Homeboy EP!) good – the songs are muddled, and blend in with one another. The finest parts can be found in “Black Death Cemetary,” but ultimately it’s a chore to surrender unadulterated attention to a 38-minute full-length that yields very little enjoyment.

“Maat” turns the wheel towards a different course, though the performances don’t mesh 100%. In other words, not only is it too little, too late, but “Maat” actually drags the pace that Maat set much, much earlier. For your death metal needs I suggest digging up Benighted’s Identisick, Vile’s The New Age of Chaos, and Vore’s Maleficus. They vary a bit from Act of Gods – especially Vore – but all come with a hearty recommendation, which is more than I can say for this. It’s as if they got their boat in the water only to have it leak until it sank.