Living Gate : "Suffer as One"

 

Here is another supergroup making old-school death metal, which I suppose is a bit of a trend now. This one features members of YOB, Amen Ra, and Wiegedood. Some elements are not unlike 'Formulas Fatal to the Flesh " era Morbid Angel, as the riffs twist and turn with a great deal of technical prowess. So they are not taking the easy way out by just dialing in a certain retro sound. The guitars have that Trey chaos to them for sure. There is a blast undercurrent to "Internal Decomposition". It is almost jazzy in how the drums go off on their own path. 

The riffs offer a dissonant and angular counterpoint to this.  The drums do a better job of holding together "Destroy and Consume" in a more grooving manner. The groove makes it one of the album's best songs The dray breathy rasp of the vocals is articulate enough to offer more of a narrative than just growling with no purpose. "Unified Soul" charges at you full blast until they provide some contrast with a more deliberate almost rock n roll riff, it's almost Deicide-like in its tight steamrolling drive. "Suffer as One" locks in more on the riff. This makes for a hookier affair. It stabs rather than stomps. They break into a creepier melodic guitar section showing they care about dynamics. 

The sinister slither of "Ones and Zeroes" almost reminds me of old Meshuggah in the manner the riffs shift in a winding fashion. The chugs that get locked into during the more obtuse math of the arrangements prove powerful and the overall result is an undulating throb. "Hunting Maggots" is more feral in its frantic chugging, though even then they play around with it to make it catchier than most death metal bands who do this sort of thing. "Atoms and Particles" takes a few moments here and there to allow a breather offering a passage that gives more ambiance, and feels less like the same is painted with the same color. The tense moments in the middle of the song use this in a very effective manner. 

Even the smarts they have invested into the equation that is their songwriting formula begins to settle in with "Overcome, Overthrow" leading to it sounding similar to other songs on the album. It is not until things take on more hard-core bluster on the last song that they capture my attention again. These guys are highly skilled musicians , who have made a captivating listen from a genre they do no dive into in their other bands but proved successful here, I will give this album a 9. It ddrops October 25th on Relapse Records.  

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