Brutal Technical Death Metal begins and ends with Suffocation.
Full stop.
The titans of industry have had a stranglehold on the masses for decades now. Hymns From The Apocrypha (Nuclear Blast Records) is simply a six-years-in-the-waiting culmination of a desire to continue to reign supreme. Even with the half-decade wait between records, any amount of time between Suffocation releases feels like an eternity.
All the signs are there: this is not going to be the easiest listening experience. From the likely purposefully awkward moniker, the cacophony of guest musicians (mostly drummers) and the self-processed palette of influences that range from Technical Death Metal to Classical; it does seem that Extreme Metaller’s OWDWYR purpose is to intrigue and to baffle in equal measure. The result of this; debut release Receptor (Self-Released) is, as expected, manic and as such, warrants hearing.
Having been seven years since the release of their stellar debut full-length album Solipsist (Unique Leader Records), it was sadly seeming to be the case that Technical Death Metaller’s The Zenith Passage were perhaps going to be lost to the annals of time. Therefore it is a given news of a follow-up on Metal Blade is very welcome news and perhaps a sign of bigger things to come from them and as evidenced on Datalysium, time appears to have been kind to them.
Despite their relatively short existence, Death Metallers Allegaeon have proven to be a more than efficient, if not spectacular, outfit. Their brand of melodic and technical death metal is far from being an original formulation, but previous albums such as 2012’s Formshifter showed the quintet from Fort Collins, Colorado, do possess real song-writing prowess and formidability.
Latest effort Elements Of The Infinite (Metal Blade) follows firmly on this same path of dogged reliability bar some very subtle differences as the band marginally up the aggression factor at the expense of some of the melody. Elements… also shows a little less of that all too familiar Gothenburg sound in its DNA. These changes are minute however and will not catch established fans off guard by any stretch of the imagination, as the core of their sound is still founded on melodic flourishes and precision.
The continued persistence to their relatively strict formula is the album’s biggest drawback as EOTI is lacking both in spark and imagination. It is clear that these guys have musical talent by the bucket load, but proceedings here are uninspired, especially compared to the gems that are its predecessors.
Despite some tinkering, Elements Of The Infinite sees Allegaeon firmly sat in their niche bracket and when compared to previous outings it is clear that these guys have a lot more to give. Unfortunately, their latest offering is a bog-standard melodic death metal effort, which sadly bears the weight of unlived expectations.
6.0/10.0
CHRIS TIPPELL
Around since 1997, the north-American band Origin began their career with a demo back in 1998, but since 2000, when they released the debut Origin, they have granted us only with full-lengths every three years. With an acclaimed discography, Omnipresent is Origin’s sixth album that’s being released through the almighty Nuclear Blast Records (Agonia Records in Europe). The album also marks the recording debut of vocalist Jason Keyser (ex-Skinless).
During the first moments of this new record with the song ‘All Things Dead’, the listener may have the feeling that’s listening to a thunderous blending between death and black metal so characteristic in Behemoth’s sound, but as the album grows up all doubts are vanished and it’s clear we are before a technical death metal record.
With the ‘Manifest Desolate’ track it’s delivered a catchy syncopation passage and because of Paul Ryan’s steady and balanced wrist playing the guitar the song evolves into a war marching soundscape – something that’s not predicted and which gives the song a progressive shape.
Besides the full-bodied songs, Omnipresent also features some instrumental tracks that last a little more than sixty seconds giving us pure technical and melodic moments using the guitar’s acute notes so usual in this kind of metal genre. However, this album doesn’t live only by technique spasms, because the ‘Source Of Icon O’ song changes the palette of sounds and a grindcore universe is injected into the record.
Talking about the musician’s performance, John Longstreth deserves some credit here because he’s a team player – he knows when some crazy drumming skills are needed and when he have to play simpler in the background so the other instruments have their own spotlight. Probably helped by the production department, the drumming pedals are prominently heard when the music asks for it complementing what I mentioned earlier. Mike Flores’ bass guitar is also a piece that has its own deserved appearance in the ‘Unattainable Zero’ track where it accompanies the guitar in cool shredding.
And when we think that’s nothing left to show, the last track ‘The Indiscriminate’ closes the album in a mad way with heavy explosions alternating between speeding and breaking like a racing car all the way forward and down to the end of Omnipresent.
7.5/10
DIOGO FERREIRA