Artificial Brain – Artificial Brain (Review)

This is the third album from US technical death metal band Artificial Brain.

The follow up to 2017’s very well-received Infrared Horizon, Artificial Brain contains 46 minutes of new material, and is brought to us from current and ex-members of bands such as Aeviterne, Afterbirth, Buckshot Facelift, Coma Cluster Void, Grey Skies Fallen, and Revocation.

Artificial Brain play technical death metal that’s twisted by progressive structuring and expressive ideas into aggressive sci-fi landscapes populated with many creative flourishes. Emotive melody and blackened shading add further depth to these jagged soundscapes, while dark dissonance lurks underground, waiting for the unwary to lower their guard. This is a perilous journey after all, but Artificial Brain will make it worth your while.

The songs are hostile and harsh, but also idiosyncratic alongside this; Artificial Brain don’t always play by the rules, and this music has plenty of warped character and interesting ideas. The band have an exploratory sense of progressive experimentation that’s tempered only by their need for rampant aggression and abrasive technicality.

The interesting thing about Artificial Brain’s music, (one of many), is actually how emotive it is. If any other band tried to pull this off, not only would it be challenging to do so in the first place, but I suspect that all we would get would be brutal nastiness alone. Somehow, however, Artificial Brain have managed to magically imbue their music with melancholic feeling and rich atmosphere, despite its complexity and its frenzied lethality. What should be impenetrable is actually paradoxically immersive.

Artificial Brain takes the listener on a furious journey into labyrinthine depths, while simultaneously giving them much to ponder as they experience a range of devastating emotive vistas. If you are a fan of challenging and atypical extreme metal that’s rooted in death metal brutality, but not limited to it, then this is a must.

Essential listening.