Act of Gods, a French quintet, started out in 2001, when Phil, the former bass player from the French legendary death metal band Mutilated, decided it was time to strike back stronger then ever…
Considering the fact that “Maât” is already the second full length Act of Gods have released, I bet that Phil did not strike back that strong as he thought he would…
I am not familiar with their earlier material, but I certainly hope it’s better then this CD.

Let me start this review with a little something about the cover artwork. The accompanying leaflet with this CD speaks of: “Stunning artwork and design”. I think the cover looks like an exercise straight out of a “How to: Photoshop” book. Nothing stunning to it…

The first thing I immediately noticed, after I pushed ‘play’, was the awful much too trebly sound of the lead guitar. It’s also way too loud in the mix for my taste. The second guitar is much softer in the mix, so at some parts it sounds like there is only one guitar present. And sometimes the bass guitar is almost inaudible.

Act of Gods play a style of death metal that reminds me of Morbid Angel, centered on the times of “Altars of Madness” and “Blessed are the Sick”. But the music is nowhere near as intelligent as these two albums.

In fact, they try too hard to copy that particular style and fail at a lot of points. A couple of songs don’t have a proper ending. The wannabe Azagthoth solos absolutely sound like nothing. Some parts of the music are played really messy. And I heard a false note here and there occasionally.

Do I have some positive things to say besides all the negative stuff then? Sure I have. There are some nice ideas to be found in a number of tracks, but these are few in comparison to the points I mentioned above.
Furthermore, the fact that this is a concept album that handles about quantum physics is quite daring and original. And drummer Guilaume does his job well, but it’s a wasted effort because the songs won’t stick in your brain.

I sincerely hope that, if Act of Gods decide to bring out another full length CD, they will spend more time and attention on the writing process and that they try to write songs that have a face of their own. “Maât” is a missed chance.

If you consider yourself a death metal diehard, you can try this CD at your own risk. Otherwise just leave it alone and spend your money on something better.