This is the debut album from US extreme metal band Owdwyr.
Receptor is an interesting beast. Blurring the boundaries between technical death metal, grindcore, and progressive metal, Owdwyr’s music is a riot of violence and exploratory brutality. It’s a 44-minute sophisticated wrecking ball.
Alongside this, there are other aspects of Receptor that are worth noting. For example, the while the bulk of the material is original, parts of the album have been adapted from other sources. There are also a range of different guests on the album, performing drums, piano, saxophone, or vocals, from current/ex-members of bands such as Benighted, Contrarian, Entheos, Imperial Triumphant, Ne Obliviscaris, and Pyrrhon.
As a rough starting point for Owdwyr’s progressive/technical strain of extreme metal, the promo blurb mentions bands like Fleshgod Apocalypse, Car Bomb, Human Remains, and early Between the Buried and Me. Additionally, I’d suggest a mix of Fallujah, Beneath the Massacre, Allegaeon, Morbid Angel, and Rivers of Nihil.
Essentially, Receptor is a layered, dynamic, and textured modern death metal album, augmented with electronic enhancements, and bolstered by progressive might. The music flows like something mechanically alive, from ambient and classical beauty to shimmering cinematic structures, to devastating contemporary heaviness, to utterly savage grindcore. Owdwyr have mastered depth and range, and Receptor is an album to dig deep into over time.
This is an album that will rip your face off with vicious grinding intensity, before dazzling what remains of you with technical wizardry, and then soothing your shattered form with bright melodic warmth. Such a range of influences could easily end up sounding a mess, but not here. Owdwyr are clearly talented, and the music is professional and polished. The band offer an intricate journey into well-rendered landscapes. Their vision of extreme metal is clear and strong, and Receptor is a success.
Very highly recommended.
Wonderbox Metal 