ALBUM REVIEW: Apocrophex, “Æternalis”

By: Richard Maw

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 18/05/2018

Label: Independent

The best kept secret in technical death metal? Maybe not for much longer- such is the dark and malevolent atmosphere of this album, I am confident that Apocrophex will be mentioned in the same breath as the big players of the genre.  This record is a must have

“Æternalis” CD//DD track listing:

1). Where Temples Are Older Than Trees

2). Implanted Genesis

3). Thwarting Dogma

4). The Oracle Room

5). Sovereign Symbol

6). Pareidolia

7). A Sentient Edifice

8). Neglected Megalith

The Review:

Apocrophex are a two man tech death tour de force from New Jersey. Their last record, “Suspended From The Cosmic Altar”, really impressed me back in 2015, so when the new album popped up in my inbox, I couldn't wait to hear it and get into the band's latest musical vision.

Sure enough, the band is on top form here. This is tech death of the most death metal variety. The lowest of growl vocals, serpentine riffage and labyrinthine song structures are the order of the day here. The vocals are mixed quite far back but at the right level to compliment the songs. Justin Buell does a phenomenal job on all instruments, while the vocals of Pete Colluci are integral to how the album plays out.

A special mention must be made here for Kevin Paradis who is playing here as a session drummer. His incredible work is a vast improvement over the programmed drums of “SFTCA” and really gives the record a huge boost- what a performance as well, almost inhuman. The atmosphere here is darker and more sinister than the debut and Buell works hard to make sure the bass and guitars have their own personality rather than just everything doubling everything else.

For anyone with an interest in tech death, this record is a must have. It is very brutal, very complex, very heavy and very technical. As is often the case, picking stand out songs on a tech death album is not easy, so instead I can reliably inform you that everything from “Where Temples Are Older Than Trees” to “Neglected Megalith” represents the very apex of the sub-genre. For this album to have come from the vision of a two piece band is quite an achievement.

I have no idea if Apocrophexhave any inkling to get a full time drummer and hit the road, or if they are happy creating their sonic landscapes in the studio. Listened to in full, the album is exhausting and breathtaking in all the best ways so either option is surely there for them.

The best kept secret in technical death metal? Maybe not for much longer- such is the dark and malevolent atmosphere of this album, I am confident that Apocrophexwill be mentioned in the same breath as the big players of the genre- they demonstrate just how far things have come from the days of Atheist, Cynic and Death whilst maintaining  a solid link to those classic bands by way of pushing the boundaries and the physical possibilities of what can be played.

“Æternalis” is available here

Band info: bandcamp|| facebook

ALBUM REVIEW: Rivers of Nihil, “Where Owls Know My Name”

By: Richard Maw

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 16/03/2018

Label: Metal Blade Records

“…devastating, melodic, labyrinthine and jam packed with ideas. “Where Owls Know My Name” will go down as a classic genre expanding album and one giant leap forward in  extreme metal

“Where Owls Know My Name” CD//DD//LP track listing:

1. Cancer/Moonspeak
2. The Silent Life
3. A Home
4. Old Nothing
5. Subtle Change
6. Terrestria III
7. Hollow
8. Death is Real
9. Where Owls Know My Name
10. Capricorn/Agoratopia

The Review:

Following 2015's “Monarchy” was always going to be a mammoth undertaking- as Rivers of Nihil's last record really was superb. They have managed it by taking not only a massive leap forward but also a sidestep of sorts. Think of the difference between “Master of Puppets” and “...And Justice For All” and you have an idea of the differences.

Indeed, this record can perhaps be accurately described as avant garde- in the same way that Celtic Frost's “Into The Pandemonium”was. After the atmospheric scene setting intro of “Cancer/Moonspeak” we are straight into “The Silent Life” which is devastating, melodic, labyrinthine and jam packed with ideas. To be fair, that track description could sum up the whole record. This is not really like anything else I have heard in the extreme metal genre. If “Monarchy” was largely identifiable as tech-death, this is something else entirely.

To be absolutely clear, the textures and sounds on this album are not to be found on many records at this end of the musical spectrum. Saxophone, clean guitars, synths, jazzy drums and noodling bass all combine to make this a fascinating listen. If Cannibal Corpse and Obituary represent two sides of the same death metal coin, then perhaps Rivers of Nihil are akin to something like Bitcoin.

As the record progresses, things get even more progressive; the breadth of sounds and arrangements here are quite dazzling and highly unusual. Picking tracks as highlights is almost impossible being as the record exists as a total piece. It is uniformly consistent in that it is experimental and progressive, it is not in any way samey or boring. The likes of “A Home and Old Nothing” are all of the epithets used so far. There are pulverising bass drums, there are blasting sections of ferocious speed. There are also jazz fusion type breakdowns and an otherworldly atmosphere throughout.

The sounds and approach of “Subtle Change (Including The Forest of Transition)” is a crazily good example of technical performance and forward thinking arrangements coupled with a state of the art production. I guess Mastodon (at their best) could be used as a reference point along with black metal like atmosphere and a harnessing of technology (both in production and instrumentation) that has not always been seen as a good thing in the world of metal.

“Terrestria III: Wither” could soundtrack a 2000AD/Judge Dredd film and contains not a trace of death metal in its sound or scope. The second half of the album pushes forward just as much as the first with “Hollow” or “Death Is Real” being great examples of the record's depth and overall approach (fantastic bass work on the latter) and the title track being an Opeth-like example of prog rock by a band who are absolutely expanding the boundaries of their own playing and also the genre(s) they are operating in.

By the time of “Capricorn/Agoratopia!, I was left wondering (on first listen) what to make of it all. It's hard to take it all in. There is so much going on that the record is very hard to assess on the first couple of listens. I have no idea how much I will listen to this album going forward- it may be all the time, it may be every once in a while. However, one thing is for sure: it will go down as a classic genre expanding album. It's like nothing else I have heard and will deserve the plaudits heaped upon it. One giant leap forward for extreme metal has occurred.

“Where Owls Know My Name” is available here

Band info: bandcamp|| facebook

ALBUM REVIEW: Decrepit Birth - "Axis Mundi"

By Theron Moore

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 21/07/2017

Label:  Agonia Records |

Nuclear Blast Records

I think what we’re seeing with Decrepit Birth and “Axis Mundi,” is the future of what death metal will look like a decade from now and this new album  is the torch to light the pathway into the future.

“Axis Mundi”CD//DD//LP track listing:

1.Vortex of Infinity…Axis Mundi
2.Spirit Guide
3.The Sacred Geometry
4.Hieroglyphic
5.Transcendental Paradox
6.Mirror of Humanity
7.Ascendant
8.Epigenetic Triplicity
9.Embryogenesis
10.Orion
11.Desprate Cry
12. Infecting the Crypts

The Review:

Decrepit Birth has become a force to be reckoned with in 2017 amidst a myriad of killer death metal releases so far.  And “Axis Mundi” might just be my favorite record of the band’s career to date.  At the same time it retains every aspect of what you’d expect from a death metal release, especially one from the mighty Decrepit Birth, the production standards, the tightness of the music and the precision of how the songs are played / executed – just outstanding.  I think what we’re seeing with Decrepitand “Axis Mundi,” is the future of what this genre will look like a decade from now. 

As much as I enjoy the freestyle, almost jazz like elements of the death metal and grindcore genre, there’s a lot to be said for technical precision as well.  And this record is a fitting example of this, and dare I say, a high level of expectation for other bands to strive for.  It’s a shame that a band such as Cannibal Corpse grabs the majority of the spotlight when clearly groups such as Decrepit Birth, Haemorrhage, and Pathologyare poised and ready to accept the torch and carry on.  “Axis Mundi” is that torch to light the pathway into the future. 

The songs are brutal yet accessible and catchy as hell.  Blast beats for the sake of blast beats?  No sir, not on this record.  You’ll find a lot of aggression and a ton of brutality because the songs on “Axis Mundi” demand blood, and lots of it and Decrepit Birth are more than happy to provide that service.     

About the songs, though.  You’re not going to find the standard death metal fare regarding corpses and coffins and zombies.  Instead, the Decrepitboys smack you in the head with what I’d refer to as, part existential, and part sci-fi / fantasy conceptual songs, if that makes sense.  Here’s a quick snippet of “Sacred Geometry:”

The journey of my heart guides me..

From the dream-time eclipse of the light

Finding my way..

I follow the path of light

Into this world unknown

Within my mind

Into the universal pattern

Beyond the expanse of imagination

The pattern takes my soul

To an unknown destination

Bodiless I drift through times

Ancient sea of memories

Deep, right?  That seems to be a running theme through this record, even the more fantastical songs, if you will, have a deeper sense of being as well as meaning giving this record a certain depth that just adds to its inherent heaviness.  As you can tell, there’s a lot going on musically with this release. 

As fans we’re lucky to get this record because the band has found it’s zone, they’re firing on all cylinders and then some.  “Axis Mundi” is a well thought out record, well played, and genuine to the tee. I urge you to get this record and play it.  If you’re a fan it’ll grow on you and find a home in whatever playlist you have at the moment.  If you’re not familiar with Decrepit Birth, this is the record you need to get to know the band.  “Axis Mundi.” Another killer death metal release for 2017.

“Axis Mundi” is available here

Band info: facebook

ALBUM REVIEW: Arkaik - "Nemethia"

By: Richard Maw

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 29/09/2017

Label: Unique Leader Records

There are riffs, leads, changes, orchestral flourishes, contrasting vocals, epics, face melters and so on. This is not as immediate a record as “Lucid Dawn”, but it is more ambitious and I suspect that it will reveal depths that Arkaik's previous releases have not reached. A stunning effort.

“Nemethia “CD//DD track listing:

1). Occultivation

2). Of Violence And Pestilence Born

3). Order Of The Hierogon

4). Dweller On The Threshold

5). Futile State

6). The Eupnean Relic

7). Lifting Amnesia

8). Telegnosis

9). Nexion Stargate

The Review:

Arkaik return with another slice of state of the art tech-death. After the excellent “Lucid Dawn” almost exactly two years ago, the band have not rested on their laurels and have once again come up with an album's worth of shredding beastly metal. As I noted last time around, the dedication to their chosen craft is absolutely admirable. In 2015 I injected a little humour into the review, along with praise, but that humour may have done the band a disservice- “Lucid Dawn”is still in semi regular rotation for me to this day which proves that these guys may be practising in the garage every spare hour, but it is not for nothing by any means- they made a fantastic slab of metal two years ago. With that in mind, I was really looking forward to this record.

There are more detours this time around- classical-esque sections here and there to offer light and shade, plus a thick and muscular sound which is different enough to previous records to mark the album out, but clear enough to display the talents of those involved. This is impressive stuff, of that there is no doubt. Opener “Occultivation” is a dynamic track of violence and force with suitably widdly leads.

The synth/mock orchestral intro for “Of Violence and Pestilence Born” leads into a maelstrom of time changes, growled and Shrieked vocals and blasting. Heavy stuff- and hard to follow, too. There are surprises- the 9.34 of “Order of Hierogon” takes in choral effects, piano, orchestral synths and brutally efficient death metal. To keep this up for close to ten minutes is pretty sensational. Easy listening this is most certainly not, though and as a listener this album demands attention and will tax you.

In amongst the nine tracks, there are synth/ambient and instrumental pieces such as “Dweller On The Threshold” and “Listing Amnesia” and they fit rather nicely with the more straightforward likes of “Futile State”. Please note that straightforward does not mean easy! There is also serpentine riffing in “Telegnosis”as well as brutal blasting. There are enough twists and turns in that track alone for an average metal band's full album, but Arkaikmake it sound easy.

The line up changes seem to have not affected the band one jot- this stuff is as technical and as brutal as it gets. By the time of closer “Nexion Stargate”, there will have been more than enough of all aspects to satisfy the most pedantic of listeners. There are riffs, leads, changes, orchestral flourishes, contrasting vocals, epics, face melters and so on. This is not as immediate a record as “Lucid Dawn”, but it is more ambitious and I suspect that it will reveal depths that Arkaik's previous releases have not reached. A stunning effort.

“Nementhia” is available here

Band info: facebook

ALBUM REVIEW: Dyscarnate - "With All Their Might"

By: Richard Maw

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 15/09/2019

Label: Unique Leader Records

For those death metal fans expecting endless blasting, look elsewhere. For those who want a pit destroying festival of riffs: look no further. This is Dyscarnate’s best album so far and a real beast of modern death metal.

“With All Their Might” CD//DD//LP track listing:

1). Of Mice And Mountains
2. This Is Fire!
3. Iron Strengthens Iron
4. Traitors In The Palace
5. To End All Flesh Before Me
6. Backbreaker
7. All The Devils Are Here
8. Nothing Seems Right

The Review:

Horsham's finest death metal act... Actually, due to line up changes and band members relocating elsewhere: make that the UK's finest death metal act return here with their third full length release. Previous albums “Enduring The Massacre” and “And So It Came To Pass” were slick and powerful beasts which utilised state of the art production and first class musicianship to make this trio sound like an army marching through the speakers.

The band continues their upward trajectory here with yet another improvement on their sound in terms of song writing, production and playing. Opener “Of Mice And Mountains” is simply immense. The heaviness reached here is staggering, as it is on “This Is Fire!” The quality of playing and production would just have been unthinkable a few years ago for an underground band. Henry Bates may have departed his bass and vocals role in 2015, but the band has found the right man in Al Llewellyn to replace him. As a unit the band work incredibly well- even if there is no doubt that music like this is recorded piecemeal and by making full use of digital technology these days. Gone are the days of Scott Burns running a reel to reel and maybe using a trigger on the snare drum, but that approach could never capture what we can hear on this muscularly impressive record.

Material wise, this is not as brutal as “Enduring The Massacre”- in terms of out and out speed and aural savagery- but it is heavier. The riffs are weightier, the sound is bigger and the band deadlier. “Iron Strengthens Iron” will be familiar to those of you have been looking out for preview album tracks- and it is a kind of catchy “single” (please don't mistake this for an actual catchy pop tune- I am talking catchy like “Heartwork”or “Where The Slime Live”, not American Idiot).

The heavy atmosphere and weight of riffage continues with “Traitors In The Palace”, but the pace picks up on “To End All Flesh Before Me”- even if the tempos remain slower than you might expect from the band's earlier records. These tracks are a great example of Dyscarnate spreading their wings a little and experimenting with more Sabbathian tempos- even if they retain the double kick and quick pick straits of death metal. The pit slamming approach continues on “Backbreaker”while “All The Devils Are Here” is head-banging nirvana.

At eight tracks, this record is the perfect length; it has enough to leave you wanting more and has great depth to the tracks on offer. The epic closer “Nothing Seems Right” caps off the album in unusual and wing spreading style. There are things on the album which would not have appeared on their previous two albums- different atmospheres, lyrical themes of existential angst, will to power and so on.

For those of you expecting endless blasting, look elsewhere. For those who want a pit destroying festival of riffs: look no further. Their best album so far and a real beast of modern death metal.

“With All Their Might”is available to preorder/buy here

Band info: facebook

ALBUM REVIEW: Pyrrhon - "What Passes for Survival"

By: Ernesto Aguilar

Album Type: Full-length

Date Released: 11/08/2017

Label: Throatruiner

"What Passes for Survival" is an uncompromising album and you will learn that fast, right out of the gate.  It is impossible to listen to Pyrrhon's magnificent new release, without admiring the band's fearlessness and technical prowess.  This album is exactly what extreme metal doubters need to hear.

"What Passes for Survival" CD//DD//LP track listing

1. The Happy Victim's Creed

2. The Invisible Hand Holds A Whip

3. Goat Mockery Ritual

4. Tennessee

5. Trash Talk Landfill

6. The Unraveling: Hegemony of Grasping Fears

7. The Unraveling: Free At Last

8. The Unraveling: Live From The Fresh Corpse

9. Empty Tenement Spirit

The Review:

It is hard to say how many people truly understood how significant at the time it was for the sociopolitical history to be put forward in a breakout song such as Iron Maiden's 1982 classic "Run to the Hills." The character and manner of Native American depopulation has been a contentious one for scholars, where terms like genocide spark heated debate. Yet Bruce Dickinson, who has made no secret of his personal opinions on a range of topics over the years, squashed it all for just a second, putting these stories into a song still heard today, even in the mainstream.

Long before and long since, metal has, more so than so many genres of popular music, made cultural commentary part of its fabric. Oppression, injustice and rebellion all have been subjects in metal as long as, well, there has been metal. It is thus impossible to listen to Pyrrhon's magnificent new release, "What Passes for Survival," without admiring the band's fearlessness in this regard, and in it, carrying on a tradition that needs them to do so.

If you are a fan of Pyrrhon's previous work, this new recording will draw your attention because the band has a reputation for extreme music with something extra. The guitars are always more technical, the bass and drums always more booming and the vocals far more ripping than the next group. You will not be disappointed at all in this regard. However, Pyrrhon shines brightest in its exceedingly powerful songwriting. The Brooklyn quartet here crafts its best music yet.

"The Mother of Virtues," Pyrrhon'slast recording, was renowned for its topical, dense lyrics, where surveillance, discrimination, wealth inequality and bigotry were laid bare in ways that were poetic in their presentation rather than preachy. If the title "What Passes for Survival" did not hint to you already that Pyrrhon were going to be just as uncompromising, you will learn it fast, right out of the gate.

On "The Invisible Hand Holds A Whip," vocal maestro Doug Mooredoes not need to name names for song to have punch. "The sources in conflict/Revised and provisional/The havens offshore/The funding's untraceable/But someone's getting paid/And everyone's got a theory/Oh, I can feel the hands on me/Pointing me towards the ones I should hate/Don't tell 'em the maths got minds of their own/They want backs to walls /And blame always finds a home."

Quite possibly the only thing heavier than Moore'slyrics is the music itself. Guitarist Dylan DiLella, Erik Malave on bass and drummer Steve Schwegler are gifted in how well they play together. Their style is as far away from your thun-thun-thun metal standard. Instead they create compositions you just do not expect. "The Unraveling," a threesome of tracks prefixed as such, is a perfect exhibit of this unique approach. DiLellapresents several inventive chord progressions and Malave's bass work is visionary. As we close with "Empty Tenement Spirit," you will feast on Schwegler's violently passionate drums, which are a real treat.

"What Passes for Survival" is exactly what extreme metal doubters need to hear. Now, if only other genres of music could be nearly as intellectual and technical.

"What Passes For Survival" is available digitally here and physical copies are available here

Band info: bandcamp || facebook

ALBUM REVIEW: Dying Fetus - "Wrong One To Fuck With"

By: Jack Taylor

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 23/06/2017

Label: Relapse Records

Like any classic Dying Fetus song, opener “Fixated on Devastation” is saturated with amazing riffs, fantastic drumming and clever song writing. It’s a thrilling ride and one which carries on throughout this record.  One could argue that the band sounds more or less the same as they have done since “Descend into Depravity”, but as long as they keep up this quality of song writing, nobody will complain.

“Wrong One To Fuck With” CD//DD//LP track listing:

1). Fixated on Devastation

2). Panic Amongst the Herd

3). Die with Integrity

4). Revelling in the Abyss

5). Seething with Disdain

6). Ideological Subjugation

7). Weaken the Structure

8). Fallacy

9). Unmitigated Detestation

10). Wrong One To Fuck With

The Review:

Dying Fetus’s ‘Wrong One To Fuck With’ is the band’s first release in five years, and marks the longest period between albums in the group’s history. It’s been worth the wait – this album is a cracker.

From the first minute of this album, the listener is in no doubt over what they’re in for or who they’re listening to. A bewilderingly technical but catchy and, most crucially, relevant riff opens proceedings before a slamming groove slows things down and John Gallagher’s distinctive bark jumps into the mix.

Like any classic Dying Fetus song, opener “Fixated on Devastation” is saturated with amazing riffs, fantastic drumming and clever songwriting. It’s a thrilling ride and one which carries on throughout this record.  “Die with Integrity” has another insurmountable groove followed by frenetic riffage and torturous passages, while “Revelling in the Abyss” is the longest song the band have written in some time, clocking in at over six minutes. The clean guitars on “Weaken the Structure” make a welcome change from the relentlessly violent and scything riffage. After the last notes of “Seething with Devastation” ring out, you need a halfway break – this album and the band in general, are so intense that stomaching a whole album in one sitting would be tough going.

Have the band progressed? One could argue that the band sounds more or less the same as they have done since “Descend into Depravity”, but as long as they keep up this quality of songwriting, nobody will complain.

“Wrong One To Fuck With” is available here

Band info: bandcamp|| facebook

FFO: Suffocation, Misery Index, Nile, Aborted

ALBUM REVIEW: Dodecahedron - "Kwintessens"

By: Mark Ambrose


Album Type:Full-length

Date Released:17/03/2017

Label: Season of Mist

At 41 minutes, “Kwintessens” is deceptively compact for the multitudes within.  Each track, even the instrumental interludes, displays remarkable prowess while remaining confrontational and almost unbearably anguished.

“Kwintessens” CD//DD//LP track listing:

1. Prelude

2. TETRAHEDRON – The Culling of the Unwanted from the Earth

3. HEXAHEDRON – Tilling the Human Soil

4. Interlude

5. OCTAHEDRON – Harbinger

6. DODECAHEDRON – An Ill-Defined Air of Otherness

7. Finale

8. ICOSAHEDRON – The Death of Your Body

The Review

Spend even a modicum of time skimming reddit boards, Joe Rogan podcasts, or YouTube documentaries, and you are likely to encounter sacred geometry: a broad term for a panoply of beliefs ascribing power, intent, and divine influence in the shapes and mathematics of the universe.  The Netherlands’ Dodecahedron, in both name and content, invokes this linkage of spirit and formulae.  But where some see harmony and consonance, this quintet sees an opportunity for malevolent inversion.

“Kwintessens”, their second full-length for Season of Mist, focuses on the relationship between man and his deity, but it’s clear that Dodecahedronis set to imbue every moment with intense dread.  From the opener, “Prelude”, there is an underlying martial structure – drummer Barendregt creates an unrelenting field of percussion while ambient howls swirl and guitarists Nienhuis and Bonis alternate between regimented riffing and ethereal shrieks.  “TETRAHEDRON – The Culling of the Unwanted from the Earth”, wrenches between borderline grind chaos and progressive, polyrhythmic riffing – almost like a birth spasm, violently delivering Eikenaar as “narrator” into a violent universe: “The energy oozing /Chaos leaking from the gashes … The primal source opened / Translating all hidden thoughts.”

For all the layering of dissonance and inhuman blast beats, Dodecahedron manages to find unexpected tribal grooves in songs like “HEXAHEDRON – Tilling the Human Soil”.  Barendregt stands out as a rhythmic beast throughout, but his fills on this track in particular are awe-inspiring.  The production is stellar, and remarkable given the layers of guitar work and synthetic flourishes.  As the album passes the halfway mark, on both “OCTAHEDRON – Harbinger” and “DODECAHEDRON – An Ill-Defined Air of Otherness”, the “electronics” work of Bonis allows the band proper to recede at key moments, opening up ambient soundscapes that invoke the “Drone of death… Drone of creation.”  Eikenaar’s vocals become, somehow, more tortured, alternating between a dark monastic chant and almost rapturous sermon during album closer “ICOSAHEDRON – The Death of Your Body”.  As he spews apocalyptic visions, “Kwintessens” actually feels like a fracturing body, with moments of sheer negative space opening between riffs.  The effect is nearly tactile, embodying the lyrics “Flesh reduced to rags / Pierced through all possibilities / and plunged into the abyss.”  Each pause invokes bottomless darkness, like staring into a black hole.

At 41 minutes, “Kwintessens” is deceptively compact for the multitudes within.  Each track, even the instrumental interludes, displays remarkable prowess while remaining confrontational and almost unbearably anguished.  Dodecahedron may be focused on cosmic terror, but they root their journeys in human perception, suffering, and perseverance.  As the narrator examines the raw geometry of his body, paralleled throughout existence, even god himself seems weak and surmountable, while the terrible power within man allows for metamorphoses almost too frightening to imagine.  It is a harrowing experience, one that left me feeling raw and exhausted.  And it’s one I’ll likely revisit many times, and discover new, equally terrifying facets within.

“Kwintessens” is available here

Band info: bandcamp|| facebook

ALBUM REVIEW: Artificial Brain - "Infrared Horizon"

By: Daniel Jackson

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 21/04/2017

Label: Profound Lore

The artwork depicting a mournful android grieving the loss of another android is absolutely devastating as a visual, and that same feeling permeates the whole musical experience. It’s bleak, sorrowful, and violent.

‘Artificial Brain’ CD//LP//DD track listing:

1. Floating in Delirium

2. Synthesized Instinct

3. Static Shattering

4. Estranged from Orbit

5. Infrared Horizon

6. Anchored to the Inlayed Arc

7. Mist like Mercury

8. Vacant Explorer

9. Graveyard of Lightless Planets

10. Ash Eclipse

The Review:

Death metal isn’t normally seen as an emotional genre. It might thematically play with fear, trauma, horror, mortality, religion, and related areas, but emotional depth isn’t something anyone points out when explaining or even defending death metal in a broader sense. It may be time to change that. Over the last several years there have been some releases that have helped broaden death metal’s range in this regard, but there may not be an album that has done so as effectively (and affectingly) as Artificial Brain’s new album ‘Infrared Horizon’

“So much deeper than programming” - from “Static Shattering”.

Anyone who has been lucky enough to hear Artificial Brain’sdebut will be familiar with the general musical idea here: jangly, gnarled death metal, constantly churning and changing abruptly. The name and theme of the band has always been apropos; as both their debut and this new album resemble the sounds metal crashing and crunching violently, even for a metal band. It’s not just the harsh changes in course; it’s the force and feeling with which these sharp turns are carried out. Artificial Brainwas a killing machine right out of the gate.

On ‘Infrared Horizon’, the band gives its killing machine a soul. That process starts with the absolutely stunning artwork for the album from Adam Burke, who has also recently done artwork for Vektor, Gatecreeper, and the upcoming Sólstafiralbum. The artwork depicting a mournful android grieving the loss of another android may not read is absolutely devastating as a visual, and that same feeling permeates the whole musical experience. It’s bleak, sorrowful, and violent.

None of this is to say that the band aren’t as sonically devastating as ever. In fact, they may have topped themselves in the ferocity department thanks to some well-timed, but absurdly fast palm muting in places. The technique was something Mayhem made use of during Blasphemer’s time with that band, but here it’s taken even further, even if it’s used more sparingly. You could argue that there are other places where black metal makes an appearance as well. The opening moments of “Static Shattering”certainly bear some resemblance to it, the title track sees the band somehow channelling 90s Enslaved at about a minute into the title track while still finding a way to blend that kind of sound into their own. If anything, it shows that the band are so sure of themselves that they’re willing to constantly throw in unique stylistic elements like these knowing exactly how to make them work within their framework.

Artificial Brain arrived fully formed in 2014, both musically and thematically. They weren’t a band in search of their voice; they’ve had it from moment one. With ‘Infrared Horizon’, the band shows us all just how rich and complex and wide ranging that voice can be. If you thought the band was just a talented band with a cool theme, they’ve made an emphatic statement about just how much more than that they are. Artificial Brain are much deeper than programming.

‘Infrared Horizon’ is available digitally here and a CD/LP copy here(EU) and here (US/NA).

Band info: Facebook