This is the debut album from this adventurous death metal featuring guitarist Jerry Witunsky is a more recent addition to Atheist. It's progressive, but perhaps not as technical and shreddy as Atheist. The songwriting is dynamic as they take you on a journey ripe with guitar melody without compromising the grit. It's not until halfway into the title track that opens the album that they go into a blasting speed, and this gives way to a head-banging groove. There are guitar solos that work with the songs rather than becoming a focal point. They put head-banging riffs to the forefront. There is the chaos of early Morbid Angel on "Breaking the Barriers of Hope". When the verses form the riffs gain some swagger and the mood shifts.
While people made a bug stink over the last Blood Incantation album, and it was good, these guys are taking away the Pink Floyd parts and jamming out over the cool 80s death metal sections that really slapped. "Breathe Transcend" Is more melodic and technical than the first two songs, though here technical does not mean a bunch of notes crammed into each measure as much as it means how they shift seamlessly from riff to riff. "Journey to the Inner Soul" slithers with groove. Their bassist Jasmine Alexander is very tasteful when it comes to holding things down. She is not trying to compete with the guitar's place in the song.
" Journey to the Inner Soul" is a moody instrumental. Jasmine continues to provide sparse accents of clean singing on "Echo Chambers Within the Dismal Mind" which is an otherwise more feral expression of aggression until things get trippier of the more atmospheric bridge leading into the guitar solo. Her sung refrain returns and this song finds her singing playing a larger role. She uses a re-tone that is a higher alto, to create a more original use of this formula. "Unspoken Oath" is driven by a hookier groove that reminds me of a riff King Diamond might use.
"Violet Light Decays" ends the album with a darker creeping. It works at more of a throb rather than the kind of break-neck chugs that powered most of the album. When it gains momentum it races with a tremlo picked speed. Not the album's hookiest song, but one of their strengths as a band is that they do not settle with writing two songs that sound the same, so this checks out with that kind of work ethic. At the end of the day, this album serves as an excellent introduction to all the sides of this and is full of hooky headbanging riffs. I will give it a 9.5, if you are a fan of 90s-sounding death metal that thinks out of the box this band is for you. Drops April 18th on Profound Lore.
No comments:
Post a Comment