This Reality Is Just a Deception

Continuing the series of reviews for Yass-Waddah, ‘This Reality Is Just a Deception’ is their second full length album released in digital and cd format on 15th of July 2020 by the label which has been responsible for releasing their material in physical form so far, They Live We Sleep Recordings. I gave some time to this album and a few more listens than I usually do, in order to let it completely unfold and be sure about what I am going to write. This album contains eight songs and two atmospheric intros with an overall duration of about forty minutes. So, starting with the cover, this one has a totally different approach than both their previous releases, showing a winged demon who, I guess, has just been summoned by a weird ritual during a full moon. The colors that it contains are only shades of yellow and red, it is dark but so dark that you have to look at it closely to understand what you have in front of you. I have a feeling that the goal of Pietro Baldan is to create something relative to his previous creations but at the same time much different.

The music presented in ‘This Reality Is Just a Deception’ has elements both from the first EP and the first full length but generally is different. The element that stands out in every release of the band is the riffing and the guitar work, and these are the two elements that stand out in this release too. The riffs combine the rawness and straightforward attitude of the EP with ugly, disharmonic ones and with fast and intense tremolo picking riffs. The symphonic element that was introduced in the previous album and the epic one are gone and the keyboards are present in very few moments just to intensify the dark atmosphere. The artist, here, is trying to express his feelings, which are darker, more destructive and hateful than ever before, but also his despair and grief, delivering an intense and dark result. However, I have to admit that something is quite off in this album. Although there are some very interesting ideas, there is a lot of repetition and in almost every track there is a part or passage with somewhat uninspired melodies that will derail the flow of the track and will disorient the listener. Moreover, there are some ideas that are simply not good and should be filtered out of the album. The tracks last from three to five minutes and they have their blasting parts, their slower passages, some thrashy, full of energy parts, offering the variety needed to create an interesting, straightforward structure for the tracks.

Another big difference in this album is that Pietro Baldan is not collaborating with other musicians but doing everything by himself. We have already learnt from the previous ones that the guitar work should be the highlight of every Yass-Waddah’s album. And that applies for this one too, as the technique, the accuracy, the expression of the guitars are unique. The bass supports the compositions adding thick layers to the compositions but you won’t be able to listen to all of its lines clearly. The vocals are also different, harsh and raw, very expressive Black Metal vocals, in my opinion, more suitable to the style and atmosphere of the music than the ones in the first full length. The role of the keyboards is more supportive here, there are no symphonic elements, while they are making the atmosphere darker and more intense with their atmospheric and ambient-like style. The weak link in this album is the drums which, I suppose, are programmed drums and their lines are somewhat repetitive and their sound feels quite phoney. The production is dark, bassy, warm and along with the balanced mixture, they deliver a very nice result. The lyrics are written in English and they are contained in the booklet of the cd. I feel that the lyrics are a little off too, like the artist was pushed to write and deliver them. Anyhow, they talk about human vanity, they express personal despair and hatred, disappointment for humanity.

We have reached the end and I guess that you are still puzzled with what I have presented you so far. Let’s clear things out. Although there are some nice ideas and some elements that I liked better than the previous album, like the vocals, overall, I believe that ‘This Reality Is Just a Deception’ doesn’t reach the quality of the previous releases and didn’t meet my expectations. For sure, if you already are a fan of the band, you will find some nice moments in here and I think it will be interesting for a fan to see the progress and the next step that they have done. For someone who wants to listen to the band for the first time, I would suggest starting with one of the previous releases.