Archspire – Bleed the Future (Review)

This is the fourth album from Canadian technical death metallers Archspire.

Greatly anticipated after 2017’s highly regarded Relentless Mutation, Bleed the Future is another ferocious slab of unstoppable tech death mastery. Archspire spend 32 minutes showing the world very precisely why they are considered by many to be top of the technical death metal pile.

These songs are fast, intricate, technical, and melodic. The songwriting seems to have pushed all of these aspects even further, which is no mean feat considering the band’s past output. Some of the riffs here are jaw dropping. The sometimes frenzied, sometimes sublime melodies are sharp enough to draw blood. The band’s technical ability is off the charts.

However, for something so complex there are a surprising amount of hooks here. There’s now an increased level of accessibility to Archspire’s music, and this has been achieved without sacrificing the band’s insanely technical nature. Heavier and groovier than previously, without losing anything precious in the process, Archspire have tapped into a well of creativity that’s inspiring. This results in songs where some of the technical flourishes are almost masked in places; it can sometimes be hard to appreciate how complicated something is when you’re thrashing around like a maniac to music that really makes you move.

The vocalist is once again on top form. His clipped rapid fire death grunts are in a league of their own. It would be absurd if it wasn’t so damn good. His machine gun style is an Archspire speciality.

So what have we learned from Bleed the Future? Quite a lot. It is a masterclass in how to write ridiculously fast and complex music that’s also shockingly catchy and memorable. Archspire never let the technicality get in the way of a good song, and Bleed the Future is stacked with not just good songs, but great ones. This is next-level death metal, and I can’t recommend this album highly enough.

Essential listening.