What the…??? What the fuck is this? I’m not even saying that to be my usual smartass self, I’m fucking serious. What the FUCK is this shit? You’ll have to excuse me, as I admit I haven’t paid much attention to Sweden’s Hypocrisy the past couple of years, but when exactly did the band go to shit? I remember a time when Hypocrisy was considered one of the most extreme bands in all of metal releasing Osculum Obscenum and Penetralia, and now they’re playing shit that even In Flames would shy away from for being too weak. When I hear see the name Hypocrisy on a CD, when I put it in a stereo and press play I expect to have my head caved in, not wanting to shoot myself in the head to make the horrible irritating noise go away. When I heard that The Arrival would be the return of the "true Hypocrisy" I expected something heavy, not this pathetic rehashed garbage filled with utterly wanky keyboards, lifeless riffs, machinelike drums and ridiculously distorted vocals. I just don’t get it. How could Peter Tägtgren go from such a powerful vocal display on Lock Up’s Pleasures Pave Sewers to this shit? Why would a man with such obvious talent hide it behind so much distortion? Is it so we can’t hear the gay Roman orgy going on in the studio around him? Peter! Wake up! We can all hear the gay Roman orgy! Apparently the band had departed from the whole aliens theme for a while, and their great return was just going back to this old theme, rather than actually returning to the style they used when they were a good band. Personally, I think it’s not aliens that intrigue the band the most, it’s the deep anal probings. From the sounds of The Arrival, it sounds like they’ve all spent way too much time over the past 10 years experimenting with phallic-shaped glowsticks. This album officially does to Hypocrisy what Load did to Metallica. Hypocrisy is dead and most definitely no longer cool.

Written By: Teufel