ISA is a one man death metal project from the US and this is his debut album.
Chimera contains 41 minutes of music that draws from a twisted death metal base, but builds progressive, technical, and psychedelic elements into it. This basic description really doesn’t do this album justice, however. Continue reading
This is the third album from Pyrrhon, an extreme metal band from the US.
Pyrrhon are not your standard band. I first encountered them on their 2014 album The Mother of Virtues, and even then they were a distinctly atypical and genre-breaking proposition. Continue reading
This is the debut album from Sloth Herder, a blackened grindcore band from the US.
Sloth Herder are a murky underground monster that’s slowly been rising up through the underworld over the last few years to claim its victims. With No Pity, No Sunrise, they’re finally ready to make their big assault. Continue reading
Sunless are a progressive death metal band from the US and this is their debut album.
Well, if this isn’t a twisting mass of complex nastiness. Urraca is 44 minutes of progressive/technical death metal full of dissonant, experimental and avant-garde stylings. Continue reading
Coma Cluster Void are a death metal band, (of sorts), and this is their debut album. They have an international lineup, with members from Canada, Germany and the US.
This album features not one, but two ex-Cryptopsy singers. You heard that right. To be fair, one of them, (Lord Worm), is only a guest vocalist on a couple of tracks, but still. The other, (Mike DiSalvo), is only one half of the vocal attack, the other half being provided by Continue reading
Intensive Square are a Technical Metal band from the UK. This is their début album.
This is Technical Metal played with a love of both complexity and crushing rhythms. There’s a Hardcore side to the band that’s combined with a firm Metal base, resulting an album that combines elements of such diverse bands as Botch, Converge, Johnny Truant, Meshuggah, Circle Takes the Square, Pyrrhon, Today Is the Day, Scarlet, Frontierer, Sikth, Periphery and many others.
Featuring a splenetic vocalist who has a vicious screamed shout, these songs provide a satisfying ear-bashing while also catering to those who like a bit of technicality and complexity with their beatings. It doesn’t go too far down the complexity route though, as there’s plenty of big rhythms and grooves provided to get the listener moving and jerking around the place in strange movements.
The album lasts 45 minutes and provides a meaty feast for anyone into this kind of thing.
Give them a listen.
Wrvth, (otherwise known as Wrath of Vesuvius), are from the US and play Death Metal. This is their third album.
Well this is a little different. Progressive/Technical Death Metal is always a pleasure to hear when it’s done well and Wrvth pull all of the right moves on this release.
Although it has its fair share of fretboard wizardry and crazy, complicated playing, there’s a lot more here than is the norm for Technical Death Metal. This release also features a melodic edge and a good groove when it wants to. Add to this a keen Progressive edge that borders on the Post-Metal, (Post-Death Metal?), in places and this album is a stormer. Oh, a saxophone also makes an appearance too.
Mixed in with the chaos and carnage are some introspective moments of calm that largely seem to be there just to make everything else sound heavier and crazier. It works, of course, and the songs on this release are a complicated melange of Progressive restraint and chaotic mayhem.
The musicianship is first-rate and these songs expertly combine Progressive elements into a Technical Death Metal framework that allows the band to steal the best from both worlds. Technicality is apparent but the Progressive elements keep the songs focused and allow for emotive passages rather than just a procession of impressive riffs and time changes.
It’s like a strange cross between Protest the Hero, Pyrrhon, Gorguts and The Faceless. The reality is that Wrvth sound every bit as good as that mash up sounds. The only thing missing is the clean vocals.
Speaking of vocals, the singer does his best impression of someone attempting to destroy their throat. He screams himself almost hoarse and when that’s been accomplished he switches to hostile growls and roars.
This is an innovative and impressive release from a band who are clearly not content to be average. I love releases like this. Here we find a winning combination of aggression, restraint, feeling, depth, chaos and outright passion.
Wrvth have just become one of my new favourite bands.
This is Baring Teeth’s second album. They are from the US and they play Progressive/Technical Death Metal.
With a cover that gives nothing away, I was intrigued to find out what lay within…
Baring Teeth play dense, complicated music that mixes technicality and progressive forays to create an unusual beast of an album.
This is an interesting and unusual listen. Like a Jazz-Metal fusion of Uphill Battle, Converge, Crowpath, Gorguts and Pyrrhon.
Angular riffs and complex drumming make for impenetrable songs that take time to reveal their hidden treasures. The bass has a good presence and role to play too.
The songs meander along the highway of distorted frenzy. Sometimes restrained and relaxed, in no hurry to get to their destination; sometimes frenetic and unhinged, desperate to get somewhere, anywhere; sometimes the calm before the storm takes over; sometimes the controlled chaos of true genius.
Frequently; all of the above at the same time, and then some.
The vocals sound like they’re struggling to be heard behind the wall of noise that the band make. They’re perfectly serviceable but it’s the chaotic music that provides the real focal point here. Human noises are simply an addition to the trauma of the rest of the band’s cacophony.
Definitely an acquired taste this one, but definitely one worth persevering with.
Pyrrhon are an unusual Hardcore-influenced Technical Death Metal band from the US and this is their second album.
They kickstart proceedings with an entry track that would do Converge or Cephalic Carnage proud. The Oracle of Nassau explodes out of the speakers all frenzy and bile, and for 1:25 it proceeds to annihilate everything. In complete contrast the next song White Flag starts off slow and menacing, and lasts for a much longer 9:42.
The vocals are screamed static attacks or brutal guttural growls, depending on the mood of the singer.
The music is technical, involved and very intricate. The instruments twist and turn and play all manner of elusive riffs; the listener is submerged in a lake of discordant dissonance that somehow manages to satisfy in spite of the multiple disparate elements being unleashed.
This is the clever thing though, as each instrument by itself is exploring its own path but everything gels together for the benefit of the wider picture in ways that you wouldn’t expect. The songs manage to be exploratory and experimental while remaining coherent and delivering a completed whole.
Angular riffs, wilful bass, schizophrenic drums and daemonic vocals collide to create a challenging and ultimately involving listen. The songs owe about as much to the violent Hardcore background of bands such as Converge, Botch and The Dillinger Escape Plan as they do to Technical Death Metal.
Pyrrhon strike me as having a combination of sounds from bands as diverse as all of the previously mentioned ones, as well as having elements of bands like Uphill Battle, Gorguts and Today Is The Day.
If you’re looking for a new band to obsess over who are not your average band then say hello to Pyrrhon. This album is a must.
