This death metal band features the current drummer for Morbid Angel and Incantation, Charles Koryn. At 29 he is an all around session guy. He has the chops to sit on the throne for death metal with jazz leanings. The bass player has played in Mournful Congregation, though the music being thrashed out here has little to do with doom. Throw in the guitarist for Worm, and you have an idea of the direction you are heading in. The jazz elements could be more frequent. They are pretty much a death metal band with jazzy solos. The drums get loose and lose the stiffness that often haunts death metal. However for as creative as most reviews and press releases might try to color their sound it is pretty much just death metal with a more technical streak. The precision here is perhaps a side effect of the jazz influence.
They rubbery bass flourishes at the start of "Entropic Reflections Continuum" give jazz more of a wink. They do grind things into more of a groove, which helps to separate this song from the kind of hyper aggression that dominates their sound. Plenty of homage is paid to the roots of old school death metal. If the mix was not so layered and dense they would sound like they came from the 90s in many places. The low growled vocals , do their job, to an almost obligatory level as this is what is expected from death metal. I can hear where guitar players might listen to this album with orgasmic glee when it comes to the solos. However they do not benefit the songs as much. A lot is throw at you in the jumbled chaos of the arrangements.
I am not listening for how complex things are or the notes crammed into guitar solos. I listen for songs. Do they hook me in? What is this band doing that sets themselves apart for the pack? This is not answered on "At the Periphery of Human Realms" . It is just an instrumental that is more of an interlude as it really goes no where. The last song finds them revisiting themes already established earlier in the album, the part I found the most interesting where they few measures of spoken vocals run through a ton of effects. Three minutes into this eleven minute closer I am wondering where they hell they are going to go in order to summon another 8 minutes of song. Am I going to be forced to endure four more minutes of guitar solos? Will there be any melody or groove? It is pretty much more of the same, they are good at what they do and the wheel is not being reinvented here I will give this one a 7.5, no bad songs, just dense collections of riffs that hold their solos. However way heavier than most of the so called technical death metal. Dropping on 20 Buck Spin
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