THE GREAT LIBERATOR

"The Great Liberator" is an EP release by Swedish technical/progressive metal act Terminal Function. The EP was independently released in September 2018. It´s the successor to the "Krakstören" EP from 2017. Terminal Function started out in 1998 and after recording and releasing three demos in the early 00s, the band released their debut full-length studio album "Measuring the Abstract" in 2008.

Stylistically the material on "The Great Liberator" is a technical and strongly Meshuggah influenced type of metal, with the occasional nod towards the more ethereal progressive metal sounds of Cynic. Terminal Function are exceptionally skilled and well playing and the four tracks on the 16:05 minutes long EP are all well crafted and powerful compositions. So there is no arguing that Terminal Function are both skilled musicians and composers, which only makes it that much more bewildering, that they chose to wear their Meshuggah influence so blatantly on their sleeve. They unfortunately cross into clone/worship territory and completely forget to nurse anything resembling a personal identity.

"The Great Liberator" is a high quality release on all other parameters. The songwriting is effectful and relatively memorable, the sound production is powerful and well sounding, suiting the material well, and the musical performances are on a high level too, but it´s beyond me how Terminal Function can be satisfied sounding this much like a Meshuggah clone. Having been active since 1998 I would have expected that they had at least tried to forge something a little more unique by now...but unfortunately no. I´ll rate this with a 3.5 star (70%) rating purely based on the quality of the product, but I can´t really recommend it, unless you´re a hardcore fan of Meshuggah and just can´t get enough of similar sounding material.

(Originally posted on Metal Music Archives).